Vending Machine
Six rows high, five rows wide. “ENTER EXACT CHANGE” scrolled in red block lettering; a pad of white numbers, 0-9, squarely centered on top of black plastic buttons, and a slot for coins, a slit for bills, and to the left a return handle. At the bottom, a change dispenser. This is what stood before me…wider and taller than my grasp. I reached into my pocket...nothing.
I had spent it all along the way just to get to this point.Ever been in a moment in your life, maybe even a season in your life, where you feel absolutely spent? Both your body and common sense confirm you are cent-less in your emotional bank? Maybe you have waited patiently for an answer, kept the dream alive as long as you could, tried fixing the same problem a million different ways, or you have traveled the road less traveled and just when you thought your feet were healing you step on a sticker burr?
You know you are moving in the right direction, but at the end of the road you find yourself emotionally broke standing before an enormous vending machine without a coin in your pocket.The machine is laden with rows of “what if’s”, fears, hopes, joys, dreams, risks, unexpected outcomes, and both answered and unanswered prayers. This looming machine is LIFE. You are so tired of waiting and making decisions…choosing the number code and hoping the outcome brings you something sweet instead of something bitter.
I stood penniless in front of life this week. Searching for answers by myself became too exhausting and left me bankrupt in mind, body, and spirit. In that moment of “brokenness” I gave what I had left to God…my heart. I gave Him my praise that no matter the outcome, NO MATTER what fell from the machine and into my hands I would still remain faithful in His grace and mercy. I no longer focused on searching for the right code…the right answer. Instead, I searched only for Him knowing He would deliver the right answer to me.
The red block lettering changed from “ENTER EXACT CHANGE” to “PAID IN FULL.”
Thank you, Jesus. I praise you in the storms and praise you in the sunshine.
From prison Paul admonished us to Rejoice, and again I say Rejoice! It is so much more effective to share our faith in sorrow than in sunshine. Yes, God is there for both, and of course the sunshine is so refreshing and welcome after the rain.
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I was thinking... what if the vending machine were filled with the items Jesus asks of us.... sacrifice, repentance, faithfulness, honor, and praise. How many of us would simply walk by? How many of us would rummage through our pockets for our last dime to sign up for that call? God's gifts are free. His grace falls like rain around us. Yet, so many of us put up umbrellas to shield us from the rain instead of simply standing in His mercy and grace. He wants to give us so much, yet so few of us are willing to "pay" the price in that machine. Dying to oursleves and giving up this "world" is too high a price to pay. That is satan's trap. He giggles as he counts the change in his pockets. Perhaps, instead of the right code being between the numbers 0-9, the right code is rather spelled with the letters G-O-D.
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I hope my writing will improve after having read this blog
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