Pumpkin' Pie

10-9-06

I am at Riverstop again. This may be one of my last moments in this coffee shop. Sipping on a creamed up cup of quarter “caff” coffee I reflect on the many moments that I have spent here. Transition is knocking on my door. I am already half way through the door but still cannot see fully what is on the other side. I am moving to Pittsburgh and will be much closer to my family. I have seen this change coming for about 6 months but am amazed that it is here. So many things have happened in these last months and have drastically changed how my time is spent. The lovely woman that I am dating is a joy and blessing to my life and will be accompanying me on this adventure. So, with all of that being said, my thoughts run to pumpkins.

Pumpkins, they come in many shapes and sizes. They are usually orange on the outside with grooves running vertically. They are turning out in great numbers at this time of year and have many purposes. I enjoy taking out their seeds and baking them with salt. I also enjoy allowing my grandmother to bake me; yes I allow her, pumpkin pies. These two things alone are enough of a purpose for me to know they are valuable but yet I want to know what else they do. They could be good for a very difficult game of bowling. They are used to make very ugly face and then lit up with a candle. I am amazed at how many different things pumpkins can be used for. A couple of the strange uses are things like skin care and candle holders.

I began to realize that humans love to find purpose in things. Finding purpose is a gift that people possess and must decide if they want to use. I have also realized that we are rarely satisfied with figuring out one purpose. I just recently spoke to a chemist that worked two years on figure out another use of an orange peel. There are times that finding new purposes can be beneficial and other times that it can be detrimental to the main purpose. When we start finding new purposes many times we forget about the old ones and do not find them meaningful any longer. If pumpkins started being worn as hats then we would stop cutting faces in them because it would ruin the hat. This is an extremely bizarre example of what the Body of Christ may be doing.

I enjoy learning about what the Body is suppose to be doing. I enjoy learning about the purposes of life for a Christian but I am seeing how rediscovering our original purpose is largely due to the fact that we forgot it in the first place. Being in the midst of a major transition I am seeing how many “discoveries” are not really discoveries at all. Rediscoveries can only happen when we no longer remember our original purpose. We were created to respond to God. This involves a relationship with Him. Worship and rejection are the only two options. Things become simple again when we remember that we have a decision to make in how we respond to God. I think we need to get back to the core. Pretty things can be made with a pumpkin shell but the core is what is important; without the core…the shell is dead.