The Oversight|

Jeremiah 29:13 "You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart." (NIV)

My toddler granddaughter loves prune plums. My daughter buys the canned ones, as they are much softer and easier for the baby to eat. Not long ago when I was minding the baby, I had to open up a new can of plums for her breakfast. I fished out two and then cut them each into four pieces for her breakfast. After she was finished and I was wiping down her pocket bib, I was horrified to discover a prune plum pit. My first thought was, thank goodness she didn't swallow that. After breakfast I emptied the remainder of the can of plums into the container my daughter uses to store them in the fridge and realized that the plums were not pitted. Oh my, I thought, and the baby had two plums. Well, as you can imagine I had some anxious moments over the next two days until the little one presented me with that second pit when I changed her diaper.

So what on earth does this have to do with anything spiritual? Well, I think perhaps for me, quite a bit. You see when I gave her the plums for breakfast I didn't have my glasses on. But when I was putting them into the fridge container I did and this time those pits didn't get passed me. Seeing as they were the same colour as the plums and quite slippery it was easy for those pits to get by me the first time, not so easy the second time. I have also found this when I am reading Scripture. When I am just sitting and reading for my quiet time hidden truths often slip by me unnoticed. But when I take the time to study a passage, to do a bit of research on something I don't understand, to meditate upon it or discuss it with others, it is like having spiritual glasses on. What I had not seen at first within the passage or verse suddenly becomes much clearer. I often discover something important that I had missed, which gives me a whole new or deeper understanding about God or the things He requires of us, for unlike plum pits which need to be removed, God's hidden truths are gems meant to be digested into our lives.

So, after my lesson with the pitted plums, I think I will make a concentrated effort to work a little harder concerning wearing my spiritual glasses when I have my quiet times with Scripture, how about you? Are you seeing God's truth as clearly as you would like to, or could you benefit from some spiritual glasses too?

Prayer: Lord God help us to really want to see the hidden truths within Your Word. Let us be willing to meditate and research and discuss the Scriptures with others that we might be more deeply blessed as we discover spiritual gems just waiting to be unearthed. In Christ's name we pray. Amen.

Lynne Phipps Atlin, B.C.