Exploding jars of gravy…

Sometimes our church closes down shop on Sunday. Instead of doing the traditional 3 songs, sermon, closing song format; we go out into the community and love others. It’s a cool experience. This group of Jesus followers believe that if you want to see Jesus move then you need to move like Jesus.

One of these Sundays we were preparing Thanksgiving boxes for people who were experiencing financial hardships and couldn’t afford a Thanksgiving meal. People had donated hundreds of pounds of food to make this whole thing happen. It was really cool to be a part of.

That Sunday our job was to put all of the boxes together. We took all these groceries and divided them up into the appropriate boxes. It was like a whole assembly line thing.

My job was to take the groceries from a big holding area and bring them to the assembly line. With every trip I would add a little more to my stack. Eventually, I was carrying plastic bags full of groceries on all my little fingers. Which worked fine for things like stuffing, but it became more difficult for items like soup. But every time I went back, I’d see how much more I could add to my plate.

That is until it got to the glass jars of gravy. When I went to grab the gravy I did what I had always done, and piled as much as I could into the plastic bags. Eventually a couple of the bags broke and glass gravy jars smashed against the ground and exploded everywhere…..Which brings me to a question- why on earth do they make glass jars of gravy?

Looking back, I probably should have cut back. There is a limit to how much those little plastic bags could carry. I pushed it and paid the consequences. To put it simply, I slowed the whole assembly line down because I was trying to do too much.

That brings me to you, do you have too many items in your bag today?

Jesus says this, “Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit He takes away; and every branch that bears fruit He prunes, that it may bear more fruit.” John 15:2

Pruning is an important part of life. Look at what Jesus says, pruned things bear more fruit. We know that’s true right? I mean, less stressed adults make for better spouses, friends, and parents.

So then, take a look at your life and figure out what you can take out of that proverbial bag. I know it’s hard to do. There’s something built into us that says, “I can handle this and that and that….and go ahead and add that as well.” Well, take this as your sign, you may be able to handle this and that, but you probably shouldn’t take the other “and that” on.

Today’s challenge: Remove a couple of those gravy jars in your bag, before you have a giant mess on your hand.