Half Price....................Not Always A Good Price!

Now being a girly girl at times.............I have to admit that I like cute girly stuff.  I love little hair barretts and cute rings and necklaces and earrings.  I love beautiful purses and scarves and pretty lipstick and body glitter!  I love cute sandles and high heels and cute blouses and skirts and sharp outfits.....................and my favorite color is deep purple.  Okay got it........................ I'm a girl.  And all the rest of you girly girls KNOW that there is nothing better than finding one of those cute little badges of femininity for a little bit of nothing.  OMG what a rush............right??  When ladies say "Okima that is such a pretty dress"..................what makes the dress even prettier is when I can reply................."Girl this was originally $89.99 and I found it on clearance for $24.50."  Come on now say AMEN if you know what I am talking about! Thank you God for sale price!

And sale price is great for lipstick and clothes and furniture and some other inanimate things in our lives.  But sale price DOES end being a real bargain at some point in our lives. 

I remember a few years back I was at work, and on this one particular day I was passing something around to all the executives' offices and desks.  And when I placed my little whatever it was on this one white guys' desk he stopped me, and in a real low voice he said........"Okima you are ALWAYS so full of smiles and positivity........its extremely attractive."  I said my polite "thank you", and started to continue on. But.......he called after me.  Now, his next question..............made me actually examine myself much deeper.  He asked................"What are you doing in your life that makes you that way?..........I mean you have to be doing something special to be full of joy and positivity ALL the time."

Now I have to admit that up until that moment I though that I was "just Okima" and had not paid any attention to the way anyone perceived me.  That was just the way I was.  But his question actually caused me to ponder an answer.  And the reason why it made me ponder an answer is that................I know better than anyone else on earth...............that I was not always full of joy.  As a matter of fact joy was a distant "Disney Movie" experience as far as I was concerned growing up.   But on this day that co-worker asked this question............I realized for the first time that something happened from the time that I was a miserable, scared, trembling negative mess, to the day that I brimmed with love confidence and smiles.

So I answered the co-worker this way...................."Let's go out to lunch and I will explain it to you."  Now he was excited because I really think that he was trying to date me anyway.  So the next day we went out to lunch and I began to tell him my story.............but it was really simple sounding.  I told him that the joy of the Lord was my strength.  God had brought me out of so much darkness and hate..........and now God's smile and love was written on my heart and it shone in my smile. 

You could have knocked this guy over with a feather................that was not what he thought he was going to hear.  Now I'm not quite sure as to what he was going to hear................but I could tell from his let down countenance that he felt tricked in some way.  Let's call this guy............."Chris"...........So "Chris" began to say..........."Oh I get it you are a Christian.......that's fine........I grew up Catholic, BUT.................what do you do to stay and remain positive?  I told him that I apply God's word to my life.  I walk in faith and forgiveness and I understand that my life is in God's worthy and capable hands.

Well "Chris" got increasingly upset with me.  I think in hindsight is what he was wanting was a prescription for happiness.  He wanted for me to give something that would change the darkness in his heart overnight.  He wanted for me to give him something that would work on him without HIM having to do the work.  "Chris" wanted "Sale Price/Half Price" joy!"  And there is no such thing.

Many times we spout off to friends or spouses or family, or even to God our "Chris"tmas List of things that we want for God to work out in our lives.  I have found that they way God works is that he doesn't just magically wave a wand and fix the world around us.  What he does is he changes us through the word of God so that we may effectively change in the world. 

When I..............a woman, ask God for a husband................he doesn't just go and dig into the man barrel and start dusting off some guy and "Okima configure him".  And three months later deliver me a marriage proposal.  No........instead the Lord shows me in the bible what a REAL wife is to be.  He works out my self love so that I will have it to share with my husband.  That is not anything that happens overnight.  He works out my patience so when my husband does that "stuff" that is hard to deal with, I will have love in my heart to endure, and patience to work with my husband. (Not saying that I won't get upset.........but God will give me the strenght to go through it and not give up in the middle of it.)   The Lord makes me able forgive so that I do not take resentments from other men into the bedroom with my husband and I.  The Lord teaches me how to cook ( that one is self explanatory ).  He teaches me how to support and to be submissive and to open my heart and be vulnerable and all the things that will attract the RIGHT kind of man.   

When you are dealing with the real things in your life, they are only best with you get them at the full price.  When you pay half price for love you end up with abuse.  When you pay half price for forgiveness you end up with a cold hard streak of negativity in your spirit that keeps people dropping you.  When you pay half price for the word of God you walk around improperly quoting scriptures and under handedly use the bible to judge and tear other people down..........therefore there is a shallowness to your life.  Or you walk around with this superior attitude of legalism that maimes and hurts your family members who are looking for a real touch from God. But your half price bible understanding punches them in the troat with an iron fist. 

For the things in life that are "Free"  you must pay full price for them.  If you don't you end up and phony FREAK!!!!!

Every four years we watch the Olympics and we watch sporting events that sometimes only last for 2 or 3 minutes.  And you think to yourself.  Shoot I can do that for 2 or 3 minutes.  But what you don't see is the time and effort and energy that goes into the behind the scenes work.  You don't see how in those four years the athletes are training vigorously, eating the right foods, getting the right sleep, practicing for hours, studying videos of other greats in their sport.  All we see is those 2 or 3 minutes and a great athlete can make it look easy. So all we do is imitate the outcome without having a clear understanding of the process to the outcome.  A great Christian can make life look easy.  But what you don't see is their training.  You don't see the life circumstances that the Lord allows to happen intheir lives to work out their character.  You don't see the alone time spent in the word getting a true understanding of how rich the word of God is and how deeply the balm of it can heal.  We just see people who look good, sing good, preach good and do things that are appealing and we want what they have for half price.  So we just imitate their outcome without having a real understanding of the process that effectively produces that outcome.  And in the church world sometimes we end up imitating someone who learned how to imitate someone else..................and then we are just a bunch of church puppets for the devil.............yea I said it!

There is no half price the joy and glory that can only come from God's rehibilitation.  The reason why the world is in the shape its in is because all over we have false prophets promising eternal joy, youth, and plesaure, and we buy into it.  We discard the word of God form the cliffnotes of the bible.  But the only way to have true love and happiness is to take off the mind of the world and put on the mind of Christ. 

But it takes years of training at full price...................and the rewards are everlasting!  So make it a point today to pay half price for cute girly things..............but full price for deep womanly things.