finding God in vegetables....

This morning, I was driving Isaac to preschool, chatting with him about the Yanni music we were listening to, while mentally planning my day. 

“Let’s see….I’ve got about an hour before I go see my friend Ginny and her new baby…need to make dentist appointments…literature homework…farmer’s market, I need peaches… field peas… corn….”.

I felt the Holy Spirit interrupt my grocery list….
"The corn, April".

“Huh?”

“You are focused on the husk, not the corn.”

“Okay.” Corn.  Husk. Hmmm…a little confused. I pull into the parking lot of Isaac’s preschool.
 “Can we talk about this later?”

I get Isaac settled at school and come back to my car to have a divine conversation with the Holy One about corn. Throughout the morning God continued to speak. He showed me that sometimes the blessings in our lives (the corn) come wrapped up in experiences that really don’t feel like that much of a blessing (the husk).  If God just dropped shucked corn cobs in our lives, it would be wonderful! Joy! Peace! Forgiveness! Prosperity! Faith! But when our harvest is embedded in something else, it can be confusing and complicated to separate the two. It makes sense, though, knowing that God is more interested in our character than he is our comfort. What lesson is learned if we are not required to peel away the husk and pull out the silky hairs?

Understanding that God’s treasures can come through a little darkness, sometimes we encounter two elements, the husk and the corn. The baby and the bathwater. The fish and the bones. The rose and the thorns. We sometimes get overfocused on the husk and underfocused on the corn.

Here’s a personal example. I birthed Isaac naturally after a fourteen hour labor. I endured a lot of pain to reap my seven pound harvest. What if, after that last push, I heard that sweet tender cry and then said, “Get that kid away from me. He caused me a lot of pain. Parenting is for the birds. Enough of this. Take him to the nursery, I just want to lay down and sleep. Ouch, ouch, ouch. ” Of course not! The pain wasn’t his fault, it was just part of the process to get him here. The difficult experience that led me to my permanent blessing was temporary. The whole point of labor and delivery is the baby! The blessing! The corn. “Give my baby to me”, was my reply after that last push, as I reached down and took my beautiful boy from the doctor’s hands. I lifted him up to my chest as Bo touched his head and together we thanked God for bringing him to us.  

Sometimes the husk is a little more challenging though, like when a friend hurts us or when we are disrespected, rejected, or ashamed.  These lessons come with tough husks that can prevent us from even getting to the corn. We can become so distracted by anger, resentment, failure, pride, shame, etc., that we end up serving our wide-eyed family a plate full of husks after chunking the nutritious cobs in the trash. Don’t get it backwards! Give the husk the attention it requires, then throw those temporary coverings away. Or stuff them down the disposal. Or dump them on your mulch pile. But, don’t confuse the husk with your corn!

A dear friend of mine and I recently had a misunderstanding. I was hurt. She was hurt. Communication was strained. It was the kind of conflict that could have destroyed our relationship. My inaccurate perceptions of her behavior catered right to my insecurities, as did hers. But in our love for each other, we refused to sacrifice our seventeen-year-old friendship. We met at a coffee house to hash it out. Words and actions were clarified, forgiveness was asked and extended, hugs and kisses were given. We left the husks with our empty coffee cups and celebrated the corn.

I hope that as you have read this, the Holy Spirit is bringing up some “husky” areas of your own life.  I encourage you my darlings, as I am doing, to ask God to help you clearly recognize what to keep and what to throw away. Let go of any part of a life experience that you know in your spirit is not to hang around. Re-direct your thoughts and your energies. Celebrate with me that God brings bountiful blessings into our lives, and in His wisdom, sometimes wraps them in a temporary covering created to serve its’ purpose before fading away into distant memories. If imbalance tries to creep back in, identify it. “That’s a husk, I will focus on the corn.” Being thankful for the gifts God gives us helps to keep the main thing the main thing. Celebrating pain, anger, and pride saps us of energy that is better spent praising God for his love, mercy, provision, and grace.

I will never look at a cob of corn the same way again.