You tie an empty coconut to a post or tree and cut a hole in a coconut shell big enough to get a monkey hand through. You then fill it with monkey treats. When the monkey attempts to get the treats out it sticks its hand in and clutches the treats. You can then capture the monkey because the monkey, once it has a hold of the treat, never will let go of it.I was reading "Grace (eventually)" by Anne Lamott. She talked about holding on to things and having her hands full so she can't hold anything else. What a powerful picture. If I am all filled up with things that I think will fulfill me, then I have no hands left to recieve what God has to give me.
I find myself clutching things that I think will satisfy. Ultimately I know they don't. I don't know if I get caught like a monkey in a coconut shell hanging on to my junk, but I do know that if I don't have any free hands for God's wonderful gifts, if my hands are too full of my own stuff, there is no way to calculate the good things I am giving up.
2 comments:
Jim: It was so good to chat with you this morning. Here is the quote I told you about. The last sentence, has been echoing around in my head for a couple days now. I am afraid to think what God might be trying to tell me or worse yet want me to do. Blessings friend, MJ
Too many people are thinking of security instead of opportunity. They seem more afraid of life than death.
James F. Byrnes (1879 - 1972)
Wow. Excellent post. I see so much of our culture really programming us to grasp grasp grasp until we're so full of worthless things we don't even know the good things that are out there.
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