Market

Made a trip to the Farmers Market off Airline this week. It is so off of my beaten path but they do have a huge bottle of Mexican vanilla that I go through fairly quickly and I just have not yet found a closer place to get it. You are just in another world the minute you enter the porch of Canino's. The pace is slow, you can casually wheel around you basket without interruption, check out the unusual offerings, and wonder what do people do with all those beans. Their is a freshness that compensates for the old and tattered shelves and primitive built carts and it just sends me, to think, for just a minute, that I am savvy enough to know how to prepare these many vegetables. Then reality hits and I realize that I can't even recognize a lot of them. But as I was strolling across the bins, and taking note of the variety that was before me, I considered the farmers that grew them. We just ease into a store and purchase fruits and vegetables, oh but how lengthy is the process that got them there. First the land, then the seeds, the nurturing, the harvesting, negotiating, selling, packaging and then the delivery. A step by step process to get it to its final destination.

Our life paths are not too far off from this process.
God declares us by his grace
God plants the seed of his vision
He sends those who are about us to nurture us
We are harvested by people who have taught us of his words and way
We are given free will to make choices that effect our life and livelihood
We are tested and approved by faith
We are packaged through our gifts and talents
Then we are delivered to God's destination of His purpose

Just as the Farmer's Market is filled with harvested goods, so are we placed in this world bin of opportunities, challenges, trials and blessings. We are pushed and squeezed, admired and overlooked, and tumbled and crushed....but we have all been created for a purpose that is grander than the ones that we can see.... Our Lord and master has reached down and chosen us, one at a time to be an active part of his basket of loving kindness. It is not by what any of us have done to achieve his recognition, it is merely by what he has done through his son that places us in a position that postures us to be his reflection. The bin is but the holder, it is what it is filled with that matters. The fruits that stand out are the ones who reflect God's glory. It is His light that we allow to grow within us that he makes to shine through us. We test the fruit by by what we see and touch on the outside but the real test is what is like on the inside. It is by our faithfulness, trust and obedience in/to God alone that makes us shine. So as to market we go...and into bins we land,
May we shine with God's light ...and be picked by his hand.


Luke 11:36
Therefore, if your whole body is full of light, and no part of it dark, it will be just as full of light as when a lamp shines its light on you."

Dear Lord, It is the process, the day by day process that you teach us of your grace and your faithfulness to the promises you have made.
May your light within us shine through us in the bins where we are placed. And may we be a reflection of your love and continued grace to all who pass our way. Amen

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