Get the Gunk Out
To make a pumpkin ready for a candle, first you’ve got to get the gunk out. Have you ever cut off the top of one and reached inside? If you have, you know the feel of that squishy, slimy muck that must be extracted before Jack-o can be transformed into a lantern.
Maybe it’s the Fall allergies that have me (and my sinuses) in a gunky state of mind, but while putting out our porch pumpkins it struck me that spiritually speaking, we can all learn a little something from pumpkin gunk.
Where there’s gunk, there’s funk.
Sometimes I feel so close to the Lord, I can hear Him whispering to me. I have clarity and focus in the direction I am headed, because I have no doubt I’ve heard from Him and I see signs of confirmation everywhere I look. In certain seasons, even during my sleeping hours I’m getting unmistakable communication. I have “spiritual message” dreams that I know are from Him, and many times I’ve literally watched those dreams (and what I felt Him showing me through them) play out in real life. How amazing it is when that happens!
Other times, however, it feels like I’m in a funk that I can’t see or hear through. It’s hard to put my finger on why I feel this way. I’m still praying; I’m still seeking Him…but I don’t feel like I’m hearing from Him even when I’m reading His Word. There’s an invisible weight I’m carrying, and my usual “cup runneth over” must have a crack somewhere, because it’s definitely feeling empty-ish. I start doubting and second guessing the path I’m on and what I’ve set out to do, questioning whether I should throw in the towel. Insecurity creeps in, having a slumber party in my mind with failure and rejection.
What’s the gunk that causes the funk? Just like the muck inside of a pumpkin, it takes some time and intention to scoop it out and sort it out, but if you ask the Lord to help you, He will show you. The longer you wallow in the muck trying to pull yourself out on your own, the more gunk is going to build up. Sometimes God shows me I’ve been carrying an offense toward someone, and I need to forgive. He might bring to my attention that I need to repent of being selfish or ungrateful, or that I have put myself in control at the wheel (again) when I should be letting Him drive. His love is not about us being perfect or perfectly performing…but because He loves us, He does correct us. (For the LORD corrects those He loves, just as a father corrects a child in whom he delights - Proverbs 3:12). I find that the quicker I submit to His correction, the faster the gunk gets out and I have a clear channel again. Like the candle inside the scooped-out pumpkin, I feel His light shining in me and through me, warmed by His closeness once again.
Savor the seeds.
There are some good pumpkin seeds inside that gunk that are worth saving. It takes a lot less effort to throw it all away and not bother sorting through the muck to separate those seeds, but you’re missing out on a real treat if you don’t make the effort. There’s nothing like warm, roasted pumpkin seeds fresh out of the oven that have been cleaned and tossed with olive oil, salt and spices (see recipe in reSOURCEs at bottom)! YUM!
Seeds have an important spiritual lesson for us, too. In “The Parable of Sower”*, Jesus told a story to a crowd about a sower scattering seeds on four different types of ground: hard soil, stony land, thorny ground and good soil. The seed could not sprout on the hard soil, so it was instantly snatched up by birds. The stony ground would not allow the seed to grow deep roots, so it withered. On the thorny ground, the sprouting seed was overtaken by thorns. Only in the fourth ground of good soil could the seed plant deep roots, grow strong and healthy, and produce fruit.
Here is how Jesus explained this parable: The sower is Jesus, and the seed is the Word of God. If someone hears the Word of God but does not accept it because their heart is hardened and full of sin, they are the hard ground because their refusal to accept it allows the enemy to keep them from ever growing and producing the fruit God wants to produce in their life. The stony ground is someone aware and maybe even interested in the Word of God, but their heart isn’t really in it and they’re not fully committed, so their faith cannot withstand when trouble comes. A thorny ground person is someone who has received the Gospel but has other idols, distractions or more important things in life (lusts, worries, riches and old mindsets) consuming their heart, so they cannot grow in the truth of God’s Word. The good soil represents true salvation bearing good fruit, because this person has heard God’s Word and has received it in their heart, allowing it take root and grow strong and resilient faith producing fruit in their life.
So how does this fit into my little ‘pumpkin parable’? Just being honest – I have been all of the above in different seasons of my life. There was a time when my heart was hardened to what God’s Word says because I wanted to do things MY way. I can look back now and see that I was trying to sprinkle a little bit of God into my own ideas and plans for my life, and the fruit I got from that was empty. When I began studying the Bible more and going to church, I had ‘head knowledge’ but wasn’t applying it every area of my life. Why? Because the world was telling me much of it was old-fashioned and not for today’s modern-day way of living, and I was buying what the world was selling. Picking and choosing which God-stuff worked for me gave me wishy-washy faith without substance, because my beliefs and behaviors were not fully lined up with His Word. Eventually I came to realize that the idols of the world are actually thorns disguised as roses, and when I truly made a decision to surrender all to Jesus, the tilling of the soil in my heart truly began.
Today I see things so much differently, and my faith is at the forefront of all that I endeavor to do and be and share. How ironic that in this season of life, our family has just enjoyed the harvest of our very first summer of garden vegetables and delicious fruits grown right in our own back yard. Hmmm…maybe we’ll try for a pumpkin patch next year? ;-)
