Peeled Bananas

Oh the joys of doing the weekly shop. My wife and I go together. With a trolley each, we start at opposite ends of the supermarket and compare notes when we meet in the middle. While deliberating over my purchases I often notice a lone husband on his cell phone to his wife - presumably , “Darling, which sort of cornflakes did you say?” while I smugly work through my list.

I’ve long realised that a degree of detective work is needed in the supermarkets. Often, at first sight, the contents of the packages and cans may not always live up to the expectations of the outside labels. For example “Pure natural blossom honey?” What does that mean? ‘Honey’ yes, but doesn’t all honey come from blossom and is there such a thing as ‘unnatural’ honey? That leaves ‘pure’, which I take it to be a euphemism for ‘honey blended from various sources and heat treated.’ What is ‘farm fresh corn-fed chicken’ supposed to mean? Are they reared in batteries, deep litter, free range and are they organically reared? So what you see isn’t always what you expect.

All very mundane. But are we real and open to people and God , WYSIWYG like a peeled banana? Do they see us as we really are?

This was brought home to me the other day, when during a good-humoured exchange with a friend, he said “You are a top bloke, but when I first knew you years ago, you were a bit stuck up!” He had a point. I used to be very closed and not in touch with my feelings that much. I’ve changed since, a process that is ongoing.

I remember in my second year as a shy boy in high school, a teacher wrote in my annual report, “I wish he would come out of his shell.” Sounds a bit like a tortoise or a snail! I did emerge as I grew up, but there were certain sides of me that were unconsciously kept well hidden , perhaps because of shame or false guilt. By adulthood I already had coping mechanism in place to deal with this deficiency.

The problem is, being closed separates. It can be a barrier to open communication and conversation stays mainly from the head and not the heart. Of course, if we are closed to people we will also be hiding those areas from God. The solution is to invite Jesus into those hidden hurting areas of our life and find freedom to be ourselves, which as I discovered is an ongoing process.

“- by their fruit you will recognize them.” Matthew 7:20 New International Version

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Whose Voice are we Listening to?

We have had so many intrusive calls from tele sales, that we signed up to a national scheme to stop them. It has really worked on the whole, but some still get through the net.

The other day we had a call from an insurance company we hadn't dealt with before. The salesman launched into his spiel, saying that our home cover was due and he could offer us a better deal. After giving him a fair hearing, I said that we were happy with our current firm, so weren't interested. Undeterred, he continued in full flow. I tried again, but he was aggressively trying to get his point over. I asked him where he had obtained our details and would he please remove us from his database. He rang off. The next day another salesman from the same firm phoned and it all started over. We went through the same process again before he rang off. The day after, yet another of their salesmen called. As he gathered momentum I stopped him and said we were quite satisfied and I was not interested. Undeterred, he said I needed to hear what he had to say. I broke in and told him that he just wasn't listening to me and I didn't want to hear from him again. He eventually gave up and rang off.

The salesman was so blinkered and focussed upon his own agenda, that he was unable to take in anything else or even consider what his potential customer really wanted. This made me wonder if we can be like this?

Is it possible to be so wrapped up in our own agenda and patterns of behaviour, that we miss what God is saying to us? If so, we can be in danger of filtering out the voices, so that we hear only what we want to hear. This means we are open to be swayed by what the world and the enemy are saying. The world for example, speaks to our 'addictions' and says "that's OK, you are only human!" This viewpoint can be bolstered even more, if we are also surrounded by those of the same mind.

If we make sure all areas of our lives are yielded to God - and He usually only has His finger on one thing at a time - and come to him open-handed, with a clean sheet, He will not disappoint us. We may be in for some surprises and could do things that buck the trend, but we will be living. Only God's Word brings life.

"He who has ears, let him hear." Matthew 13:9 New International Version

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