I'm tired of the obsession!

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I picked her up for church on Sunday. I didn't actually know that she was coming until I got there. I'd never met her before. She just decided to come with another girl that I had picked up.


Both had been incarcerated and were now out and housed in a drug rehab program at a transitional home. Both had little, so now wore what they had been given. And while one girl felt good strutting her new garb, the other was conscious of the garb she was wearing.


I didn't know this at first. It was later when I heard Ellen ask Amber a question, and my nosey-ness was piqued to ask what they were talking about. Ellen told me that Amber was conscious about what she had on, but mostly conscious about how much she weighed.


I was driving. But my head immediately shook to and fro, my hand went out to pat her, and a grimace took control of my face. I told her, "We're all too obsessed and conscious over our boxes! These boxes that we're stuffed in. Our box is very rarely the size that we'd like it to be. We always think them too big or too little or too short or too tall... and they don't stick out right in the places they do. We all want to rearrange not only the size, but the shapes of our boxes. We wrap it and paint it and stuff it. But I'll tell you what, nobody cares so much about your box, because they're obsessed and thinking about theirs!"


Those girls laughed hilariously as we drove. I was serious! I told them, "I'm serious! I don't like my box either! I'm always thinking about it! It never stays sized the size that I want it. If I've gained weight, I hate it. If I loose too much, it definitely doesn't look right either. But I have yet to find and be stayed in that "perfectly" sized container! Is there a size that works for me?! I'm tired of all of the attention, aggravation, and disappointment I give toward my box! It's a box, for heaven's sake! Let's all get over it!"


By this time the new girl didn't have a clue what to make of me. She was grinning from ear to ear though, and nodding her head in agreement. I told her as we were walking in, "Don't you dare worry about it. Your box is beautiful!! Though really, nobody cares about your box. They're only interested and thinking about theirs! And not only that, they're hoping that you'll compliment them on it!"


I hope I lightened the mood. I tried to anyway! But mostly, I'm serious in my hate of the obsession that robs us of such joy and that steals so much of our focus!


After church, of course, our tummies were growling. After being incarcerated "free world food" (as they call it) never tasted so good! We dreamed a few minutes of what we'd be eating before deciding on the where to go eat it. We chose a buffet where you can load up with all that you want on about anything you can think of. They have everything! I told them as we walked in, "Let's go fill up our boxes!!!! And let's thoroughly enjoy filling it, feeling it, and feeding it!"  


I wonder though what our God would say? Would He tell us that He made that box that He's put us in, and He likes it a lot?! Would it hurt His feelings that we don't, and that we're constantly criticizing the container He's made?


It's just a box!


It's just a box! 


Or. 


Is it?


In truth rather, it's really a jar of clay. It's made from mud. It's made from dirt. And it was made and formed this way (the way that it is) by the Creator's Hands Himself! 


And too, if you're a child of God, this clay jar holds a "treasure"! It's a temple! His Temple! A place where God, His Son, and His Holy Spirit dwells! 


"Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, who is IN you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; you were bought at a price. Therefore, honor God with your body." ~ I  Corinthians 6:19-20


I suppose that'd make our boxes a very important box! One that cost a LOT! We are to honor God with them! It looks like, when you re-think it, that it does matter! He does care. These boxes have been entrusted (for our short span on this earth) to us. Let's take care of them! Mostly, let's let Jesus show beautifully in and through our boxes! Bottom line though, let's not forget that our focus is not the OUTsides of our boxes, but on our INs and what's inside them! 
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