Acorn

Amazing the activity a couple of brown lunch bags and a neighbor's yard filled with acorns can produce. William and his friend Ivy have wanted for weeks to come to my house and play...yesterday we finally made that happen. Nothing special....homemade pizza with that Hawaiian bread as a soft crust... and a little sauce, cheese and leftover meatballs, for a topping. But then we had to come up with activities for the next couple of hours...Blake my oldest grandson and his baby brother Sam had come over the day before and that is when we found the acorn treasures.. Blake needed them for school for they were asked to make contributions towards building fairy houses. If it worked once as fun ...chances are it would work with the next group as well!

There are treasures planted among us everywhere....but they are often overlooked and taken for granted. As we searched for the acorns...we found broken ones, eaten ones, ones with hats and ones stripped naked. Each child had an opinion...on favorites....and gathered carefully ...but they all pretty much agreed that the broken ones or eaten ones didn't quite have the same appeal....as the whole ones. And I would venture to say that at first glance our broken treasures don't seem to have the same appeal as our whole ones do either.

But just looking a little closer at these acorns...they all started out the same...they were the grown and nurtured until seasons changed and then they dropped to the ground...within each acorn there is seed that if not eaten or stored and is nurtured by natures' ways has the potential to be a mighty oak. The treasure lies within....unseen until maturity.

There is so much within us that we have yet to discover. We have gifts that Christ is maturing, transformations that Christ is
perfecting, models that Christ is preparing, and purposes that God is unveiling....everyday! His treasures are before us and within us...we just have to take time to seek them....and attentively watch as he unfolds them. Just as the acorns are destined as food or favor as a mighty oak....so are we destined by Christ to be something special for His special purpose.
But the thing about the acorn is each of them is limited to one purpose or another...we are not...Christ can use each of our broken dreams or heart broken trials or losses ...as His ultimate source for life and restoration and salvation....for it is so often in those times through our pain and suffering that we are forced to seek a new focus, a new beginning or new dreams that he has planned for our joy...that we might have otherwise missed. No matter how life falls....or what the purposes we have deemed worthy or unworthy..it all comes back to God. He is stretching us...through our broken dreams and our heartbreaks to come to HIM..to focus on Him, to trust in Him. He has new beginnings planned but he will incorporate and use what we have learned from our old ones...to achieve his desired perfection for our lives.

Ephesians 1:11
In him we were also chosen, having been predestined according to the plan of him who works out everything in conformity with the purpose of his will,

Just like the acorns we have days when we are stomped on, eaten up, covered up, picked up and days when we are appreciated and valued as treasures in the brown bag treasure chest of this world. There is a "seed" truth within each of us, I am convinced, that Christ has placed in our hearts. A truth that we are perfectly made with all our weaknesses, our strengths, our gifts and our personalities etc buy a perfect maker who makes no mistakes. We each do have potential to be a mighty asset in the kingdom of God.

Our part in achieving this lofty goal is to:
1) be attentive to the ways of Christ...watch for him at every turn
2) be willing to be dropped to the ground of our own uncertainty...trusting that God has a purpose.
3) be seeking a new perspective when you are overcome with broken dreams and broken hearts....focus on Christ
4) be available....to have your heart changed or your ways amended
5) be IN LOVE with Christ....and apprecaite Him for all he is, all he has done and all that he is doing..He remains steadfast and faithful and mighty ....He is our mighty oak...we are the acorns that fall from His tree!

acorn: the fruit of an oak tree - consisting of a smooth thick walled nut in a woody scaly cuplike base!...

Dear Lord, May you root us, nurture us and and ground us in your love so that you may fulfill the potential that you have envisioned for each of our lives. Amen

Thomas Fuller's Gnomologia, 1732: "The greatest Oaks have been little Acorns."and in an essay by D. Everett in The Columbian Orator, 1797: "Large streams from little fountains flow, Tall oaks from little acorns grow."

Praise God wherever you are and whatever situation He has allowed you to be in . . . His glory will shine through!