Day 16: Have A Potato Chip Moment
I want to tell you about a POTATO CHIP.
Yes, a POTATO CHIP.
Because sometimes
the smallest,
silliest things
become the
MOMENTS
you never forget.
There were three of us,
together in an emergency room with our precious friend.
There was
PAIN.
There was
UNCERTAINTY.
And yet,
right therein the middle of an emergency room,
there was a
POTATO CHIP
that changed everything.
For that POTATO CHIP
became part of one of the most
ridiculous,
silly,
JOY-filled moments.
We laughed.
I mean, really laughed.
The kind of laughter that makes you forget,
even if only for a moment,
where you are.
And isn't it amazing that now,
when we look back,
there is something about that moment
that makes us want to go back there?
Not because
we want to go back to the emergency room.
but because we remember the
JOY.
So I've started calling moments like that,
POTATO CHIP MOMENTS.
Those little moments that don't look significant enough to remember~
but somehow become unforgettable.
A laugh.
A friend.
A "Good morning how do you do?"
A cup of coffee.
A smile from a child.
A POTATO CHIP.
The little gifts hidden inside an ordinary~
or even painfully difficult day.
And I think our beautiful friend understands
POTATO CHIP MOMENTS better
than almost anyone I know.
Because through the way she lives,
she has taught so many of ussomething extraordinary.
You don't have to wait until everything is okayto experience
JOY.
You don't have to wait until the pain is gone.
You don't have to wait until the circumstances change.
You don't have to wait for
SOMEDAY
to receive the gift of
TODAY.
Ecclesiastes 3:12-13 tells us that
you can experience JOY in the HERE & NOW~
“I know that there is nothing better for them than to rejoice and to do good as long as they live; and also that every man should eat and drink and see and enjoy the good of all his labor—
IT IS THE GIFT OF GOD”(Ecclesiastes 3:12–13 AMP).
And maybe that's
what a POTATO CHIP MOMENT really is.
It's recognizing the GIFT OF GOD in the NOW.
Because the POTATO CHIP wasn't really what made that hospital room
JOYFUL.
The laughter wasn't even what made it JOYFUL.
It was WHO was in the middle of it.
JESUS.
Four women.
One emergency room.And one silly POTATO CHIP,
that not only brightened a stale hospital turkey sandwich,
but our hearts.
Not because the pain wasn't real.
It was.
Not because the circumstances were good.
They weren't.
But because
JOY
doesn't requirethe absence of
PAIN.
Pain was there
But JESUS was there.
Uncertainty was there
But JESUS was there.
But somehow,
JOY was there too.
A LIFE CHANGING MOMENT
in time,
that GOD used a
POTATO CHIP,
in the life our precious friend
She has
taught us that living life to the fullest
doesn't mean life is always full of easy things.
It means recognizing that even in the hardest things,
life is still full of GOD,
when life appears to be stripping itself from you.
In the middle of less, there is
GOD
who brought bringing us together in an emergency room,
for that moment.
And I don't miss the MOMENTS,
while we're waiting for another one.
THIS is a POTATO CHIP moment.
Just an ordinary morning,
yet sitting with an extrroidinary GOD. This MOMENT that you have been given.
We don't get to keep today forever.
But we do get to receive it.
And Scripture tells us exactly what to call it:
"THIS IS THE GIFT OF GOD".
So let's receive the gift together.
One CHIP at a time.
Because when
JESUS
is in the center,
we can laugh even when life hurts.
We begin noticing the little things in the
HERE & NOW.
And we can experience
HIS JOY
even when our circumstances aren't joyful.
Oh,
the TRUTH OF TRUTH~
"Rejoice in hope, be patient in tribulation, be constant in prayer"(Romans 12:12)
Notice that it doesn't say:
REJOICE BECAUSE OF THE TRIBULATION.
It says:
REJOICE IN HOPE.
Why?
Because our HOPE isn't dependent upon our circumstances.
Our HOPE is JESUS.
JESUS IS HERE.
JESUS IS PRESENT.
HE is THE GIFT OF NOW.
And because HE is present,
there is still somethingto receive RIGHT NOW.
So ask GODto give you eyes to recognize your own
POTATO CHIP MOMENTS~
The ORDINARY.
The SILLY.
The UNEXPECTED.
The seemingly INSIGINFICANT.
The moments that may appearto mean absolutely NOTHING
until one dayyou look back and realize
they meant EVERYTHING.
Not because of the
POTATO CHIP.
But because
JESUS WAS THERE.
There is no time to waste waiting for
SOMEDAY
to live the lifeGOD has given you
TODAY.
So today's
CHALK TALK 101
is pretty simple:
REJOICE.
DO GOOD.
ENJOY ONE ANOTHER.
RECEIVE TODAY.
RECOGNIZE THE GIFT.
And
DON'T MISS THE MOMENT.
REMEMBER that
JOY
doesn't mean the absence of PAIN.
Our JOY has a NAME.
JESUS.
The same JESUSwho met four women in an emergency room
and opened our eyesto HIS presence
through somethingas ridiculously ordinary
as a
POTATO CHIP.
So put JESUS where HE belongs.
In the center of your
RELATIONSHIPS.
In the center of your
TRIALS.
In the center of your
PAIN.
In the center of your
HEART.
In the centerof
THIS MOMENT.
And then,
keep your eyes open.
Because you never knowwhen GOD might use
a
POTATO CHIP
to remind youthat even in the middleof something painfully hard
JESUS IS STILL HERE.
For where there is
JESUS
there
is
"JOY"
(listen to the song below)
*P.S. The "heart" shaped potato chip in the image above,
was found when I was with another precious friend.
Hmm. Now that was a POTATO CHIP MOMENT!).
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