52.3 F
Indianapolis
Friday, March 29, 2024

Spiritual Outlook: Sever ties with settling

More by this author

Maintaining momentum

Tis the seasonā€¦

Making room for the merge

Again.

Here we are at the end of the first month of the year. Has anybody seen time? Does anyone know were January went? Both time and January seemed to move quite swiftly. Lord, help us to keep pace.

As we continue to move forward into the year, I have one question: What are we doing?

I donā€™t mean in the New Yearā€™s resolution sense of reading more books, exercising regularly or eating healthier. I donā€™t mean by way of being consistent in communication with loved ones or spending more quality quiet time with God. I believe itā€™s safe to say the aforementioned list should be one with which we engage. However, my question goes beyond the surface, and hereā€™s how.

A couple of weeks ago I had a taste for grits. I walked along the aisles of Target looking for hot cereal. When I found where it was located, I looked and looked again for old-fashioned grits. I found oats, steel cut oats and oatmeal, but I didnā€™t see old-fashioned grits. I looked high and low, still couldnā€™t find old-fashioned grits. Did you just read that to the tune of ā€œNobody Greaterā€ by Vashawn Mitchell, or was it just me? Nevertheless, I was disappointed when I didnā€™t find what I was looking for. As a result of time being of the essence, I chose what was available to me: instant grits (judge not, lest ye be judged). I figured they would at least curb the craving and they did.

But thereā€™s more to this story of instant grits.

A friend of mine noticed the box and immediately began to laugh. While laughing, my friend shared the nostalgic memory that emerged from seeing the box. While laughing, my friend questioned why I purchased instant instead of old-fashioned grits. My response was simple: Target didnā€™t have old fashioned in stock. After laughing some more, my friend said something that taught me a lesson I will not forget. I was told that my decision to purchase instant meant I settled. Say what? I settled. I didnā€™t just want grits. I wanted old-fashioned grits. However, I settled on what was available at that store. Never mind the fact that there is a Kroger, an Aldi and a Meijer all within 15 minutes of this Target. I could have easily driven to any of these stores to get what I wanted. But I didnā€™t. I settled.

Yet, not everyone does what I did. Not everyone settles. In Luke 15, Jesus tells a series of lost and found parables. Specifically in verses 8-10, Jesus tells of a woman who ā€œdiligently searched every nook and cranny for one lost coinā€ (The Passion Translation, paraphrased). The text says the woman had 10 coins and lost one. Some may have let the lost coin remain unfound. Some may have considered the woman to be ā€œdoing too muchā€ for one coin. Some may have felt she had a scarcity mindset, due to her diligence to find the coin.

However, I have a different perspective. Though the primary reason for this illustration is finding what has been lost, thereā€™s a secondary illustration: not settling. The woman in the parable chose not to settle with only having the remaining nine coins. She chose to go after what she wanted, if for no other reason because it (the lost coin) belonged to her. If she ever had ties with settling, in that moment she severed them.

So I ask the initial question again: As we move further forward into the year, what are we doing? In other words, are we settling? If we are, we donā€™t have to. Weā€™re not supposed to. Why, because Jesus died so we would have life and that more abundantly. There is no such thing as settling when there is abundance. Read that again. We may have to drive 15 minutes to get to it. We may have to be more diligent in our work, our search and our commitment. Still we can take a lesson from the parable of the woman and the lost coin. We can sever ties with settling and choose to go after what we want and what belongs to us, a choice that is always worth it.

Rae Karim, formerly chapel director at Christian Theological Seminary, is now pastor at First Christian Church of Honolulu. She can be reached at pastoraefcc@gmail.com.

- Advertisement -
ads:

Upcoming Online Townhalls

- Advertisement -

Subscribe to our newsletter

To be updated with all the latest local news.

Stay connected

1FansLike
1FollowersFollow
1FollowersFollow
1SubscribersSubscribe

Related articles

Popular articles

EspaƱol + Translate Ā»
Skip to content