Little Plastic Castle

“And they say, ‘Goldfish have no memory’
I guess their lives are much like mine
And the little plastic castle
Is a surprise every time
And it's hard to say, if they're happy
But they don't seem much to mind”

            -from “Little Plastic Castle” by Ani DiFranco

 

We are surprised so often by things that simply shouldn’t surprise us.  We spend much of our lives forgetting the things we don’t want to remember, or losing interest in the things that are really important.  We should see things coming, but we don’t because we want to believe that life is different than the reality we know.  Then when they happen, we act like we’re shocked.

We think that we can put ourselves in the same tempting situations and expect different results and then “surprise” we make the same mistakes.

We think we can trick God into doing our will instead of His and then “surprise” He does what He wants in and through us.

We think that we know better than God in our decision making process and then “surprise” we see the same consequences He warned us about.

We think that God won’t come through for us, even though He promised to be faithful and He has been all along, and then “surprise” sure enough He takes care of us.

We think that this person we have a crush on was a jerk to all the other people they dated but it will be different for us and then “surprise” we have a broken heart.

We think that we are worthless because God doesn’t seem to be doing big things in our lives and then “surprise” we see a Scripture about how much God loves us.

 

Don’t be a goldfish.  Don’t let the obvious things surprise you.  Don’t be shocked by the little plastic castles of life.  So many people live this way and don’t seem much to mind.  Be more than mediocre by remembering the lessons that God teaches you when you need them.  Let God show you how to trust Him and His Word and His plan for you.  He wants to do something with your life, but you have to be able to remember how He has been faithful in the past.  You have to remember enough of His Word to be consistent in your own walk.  You have to remember how much He loves you and let it shape your life every day.