Don't Cry Over Spoiled Milk
Spoiled milk. It’s stinky, and nasty, and can curdle your stomach as much or more than the curds you see floating in the jug.
But spoiled milk isn’t always such a bad thing. One Facebook blogger had thoughts:
If milk goes “bad,” it can become yoghurt. Yoghurt is more valuable than milk.
If it gets even worse, it can turn into cheese. Cheese is more valuable than both yoghurt and milk.
And it’s not just spoiled milk that can morph into things of greater value:
- - If grape juice turns sour, it can ferment and transform into wine
- - Christopher Columbus made a navigational error that lead him to discover America
- - Alexander Fleming’s mistake led him to invent penicillin, saving countless lives since
You are not bad because you made mistakes or experienced failures. Mistakes are the experiences that make you more valuable as a person.
[So], don’t let your mistakes get you down. It is not just the practice that makes perfect. It’s also the mistakes we learn from that make perfect!
As the great inventor Thomas Edison once said, when asked about his many failed attempts at innovation, “I have not failed 10,000 times—I’ve successfully found 10,000 ways that will not work.”
"Brothers, I do not consider that I have made it my own. But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus" (Philippians 3:13-14, ESV).
"But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me" (2 Corinthians 12:9, ESV).
"For the righteous falls seven times and rises again, but the wicked stumble in times of calamity" (Proverbs 24:16, ESV).
Our Deepest Need
Lookout Mountain rises 2,000 feet above sea level, offering views of the Cumberland Plateau, the Tennessee River, and the surrounding mountains and valleys. While that is the most familiar and popular natural wonder of this area of America, what is deeper inside is more impressive.
1,120 feet below the surface of Lookout Mountain is our country’s tallest and deepest underground waterfall - Ruby Falls. Ruby Falls opened to the public in 1929. The historic landmark, which welcomes more than half a million guests annually, offers 3 tiers of tours, all of which start off in a glass elevator that takes tourists 260 feet into the heart of the cave. From there, tourists explore the natural beauty at the place selected by the tourist.
In a higher and holier sense, this hidden wonder speaks to what Jesus is saying to His listeners then, now, and always. Our spiritual growth is related to the pace and depth we desire to have in our relationship with Him and His Word.
Jesus wants the bottom of the ocean-deep relationship with us. Our relationship with Him is limited only by 1) how deep we ourselves will delve; and 2) by how deep we'll allow Him to penetrate our hearts and lives. He is a gentleman. He will walk and talk with us only as much as we want Him to walk and talk with us.
"I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God" (Ephesians 3:16-19, NIV).
Are You Being Fed?
One Sunday, my wife was driving us home from church and she said something that I found simple yet profound.
Without shifting her eyes from the road she said to me, “I feel like I’ve been really fed today. My Spirit feels strong.”
She then said, “You know, it's just common sense. our physical body needs physical food. But once we eat, we digest that food, and then we use the energy. So, that’s why we have to keep having meals in order to sustain our physical energy.”
She went on to say, “It’s exactly the same with our Spirit - our spirit is alive. It’s living - which means if you don’t feed your spirit - you will get weak. If you don’t feed your spirit - you cannot get stronger.”
That interaction I had with my wife leads me to the question I want to ask you – how does your spirit feel in this moment? Do you feel spiritually alive? Do you feel spiritually energized and strong?
Or would you say your spirit feels weak? Are you weighed down with thoughts of worry, anger, anxiety, depression, or even loneliness? Are these things draining you of spiritual strength?
Could it be, that part of the reason your struggle may be so difficult is due to the fact that your spirit isn’t being fed? Perhaps you feel so drained because the real you isn’t being nourished!
Jesus said, “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never go hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty" (John 6:35, NIV).