"happy" meals

happy meal toys have to be near the top of the list of parent pet peeves.  many parents are familiar with the sequence of events that surrounds a happy meal.  family is driving around, kids are hungry. parents make a stop at the nearest fast food restaurant to satisfy said hunger.  kids order happy meal with 4 chicken nuggets. kids consume 1.5 chicken nuggets, 4.5 fries and 1 full soda and then demand that happy meal toy be opened.  parents demand that child finish remaining 2.5 chicken nuggets before said toy is opened.  child then reluctantly stuffs remaining nuggets on top of already full of soda tummy to attain said toy.  toy is opened.  toy is played with for 2.5 seconds.  toy is then discarded at home into toy box already full of 2.5 thousand other similar toys.  never to be seen or heard from again.  (unless it is either stepped on,  chewed up by family pet, or found in couch cushions while looking for remote). 

my point?  most happy meal toys are junk.  they provide the advertised happiness for about 2.5 seconds and then the kid is over it, only to desire the next one.  and the food that goes with most happy meals – also junk.  not all, but most, only provide limited nutritional value.  and if they are ordered with soda and include some type of fried food, they only leave you emptier than when you began eating.  starved for real satisfaction and still hungry. 

unfortunately, I think most christians are receiving the same type of spiritual food on sundays.  we are driving around, living hungry.  we attend church on sundays to receive our happy meal.  the sermons and songs fill us temporarily, providing a feel good for a few fleeting moments.  but often before we’ve even gotten home, that spiritual food has already worn off, and what we’ve learned has already been forgotten, leaving us even more hungry than before. 

although many christian churches are guilty of providing at best drive-thru service, the true problem is not the providers, but the consumers.  christian consumers are trying to live organic lives, but with drive-thru nutrition.  not possible.  we will only receive limited nutrition on Sundays.  in order to live organic, authentic lives, we must be willing to go beyond the convenience of drive thru religion.  we must be willing to go to the garden. 

the garden is where we meet with the Lord.  daily.  this is where we remain in Him.  where we soak in His Word.  where we do more than just read it and hear it.  where we allow it to transform our thinking, our doing, our lives.  the garden is not a place where results come quickly.  seeds must be planted, watered, nurtured, tended, and given time to grow into fruit. if we want to live real, authentic, relevant lives as Christ-followers, we must spend time in the garden. more time than just on sundays.  when we do this, we will slowly realize that we are not the gardeners, and we are not the ones doing the real work.  the Father is the Gardener.  and His Son is the Vine.  He is the one who plants, waters, nurtures, grows, tends to, and gives life to our souls.  He is the one responsible for the fruit.  He is the one who does all the work.  all we do is remain. 

and when we do this, we will have more than just a happy meal to show for it.   more than just junk food and a junk toy.  more than just a sunday smile and monday morning blues.  we will bear real fruit.  sweet fruit.  fruit that is fulfilling, and draws others into the garden. 

 

John 15:1-8

“I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener.  He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes so that it will be even more fruitful.  You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you.  Remain in me and I will remain in you.  No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine.  Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me. 

I am the vine; you are the branches.  If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.  If anyone does not remain in me, he is like a branch that is thrown away and withers; such branches are picked up, thrown in to the fire and burned.  If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be given you.  This is to my Father’s glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples.”