So, once upon a time, I went on a high school field trip.
This was an awesome field trip: it was several nights camping out in the middle of the Mojave Desert. It include hiking inside an inactive volcano, touring caves, visiting an archaeological site, searching for scorpions at night via blacklight, and searching for fossils in a shale mountain.
Amazing.
And on this particular field trip, I got to share a tent with my best friend, Deanna.
Because we were partners for the trip, we planned our menu together. It was a camp-out sort of field trip, so we had to plan, bring, and cook our own food..
One of the things we decided to bring was Kool-Aid. I don't know why; for some reason, it sounded good to our teenage selves.
The problem was, it was HORRIBLE. We mixed it up, looking forward to that sweet, cool, refreshing drink while we were out in the middle of the dusty heat of the Mojave Desert.
But we couldn't drink it at all. It was bitter. Terrible. We spit it out.
The field trip continued, and we had a great time. But we never drank the Kool-Aid.
Months later, I was over at Deanna's house, and we were sitting in her room, talking like teenager girls do, about this, that, and everything.
And we started talking about dying our hair.
Deanna and I were both pretty natural girls. We were more into writing stories, drawing pictures, & putting on plays than we were into make-up & primping & the like . . . both of us usually kept our God-given hair color, is what I'm saying. But we did like beauty-related things that sounded FUN.
So we were talking about dying our hair blue.
Or purple.
Or whatever.
So . . . we were discussing the virtue of dying our hair with Kool-Aid. Because that's the cheap DIY way to get funky colors for your hair.
And as we were talking, we said, "Yeah, but you've got to make sure not to mix the Kool-Aid with sugar."
And then we looked at each other and yelled in unison, "SUGAR!!!!"
Because we suddenly realized what had been wrong with our field trip Kool-Aid: we'd forgotten the sugar.
And I wrote all of that, because it seemed to me, "there has to be a lesson in there somewhere".
You know those things you hear, and you think, "That's got to be a sermon illustration"?
Well, it seems to me that there's got to be a sermon illustration in there somewhere.
But so help me, I can't figure out what it is.
There's your story anyway: don't forget the sugar.
Anyone want to help me with the interpretation?
Peace of Christ to you,
Jessica Snell
This was an awesome field trip: it was several nights camping out in the middle of the Mojave Desert. It include hiking inside an inactive volcano, touring caves, visiting an archaeological site, searching for scorpions at night via blacklight, and searching for fossils in a shale mountain.
Amazing.
And on this particular field trip, I got to share a tent with my best friend, Deanna.
Because we were partners for the trip, we planned our menu together. It was a camp-out sort of field trip, so we had to plan, bring, and cook our own food..
One of the things we decided to bring was Kool-Aid. I don't know why; for some reason, it sounded good to our teenage selves.
The problem was, it was HORRIBLE. We mixed it up, looking forward to that sweet, cool, refreshing drink while we were out in the middle of the dusty heat of the Mojave Desert.
But we couldn't drink it at all. It was bitter. Terrible. We spit it out.
The field trip continued, and we had a great time. But we never drank the Kool-Aid.
Months later, I was over at Deanna's house, and we were sitting in her room, talking like teenager girls do, about this, that, and everything.
And we started talking about dying our hair.
Deanna and I were both pretty natural girls. We were more into writing stories, drawing pictures, & putting on plays than we were into make-up & primping & the like . . . both of us usually kept our God-given hair color, is what I'm saying. But we did like beauty-related things that sounded FUN.
So we were talking about dying our hair blue.
Or purple.
Or whatever.
So . . . we were discussing the virtue of dying our hair with Kool-Aid. Because that's the cheap DIY way to get funky colors for your hair.
And as we were talking, we said, "Yeah, but you've got to make sure not to mix the Kool-Aid with sugar."
And then we looked at each other and yelled in unison, "SUGAR!!!!"
Because we suddenly realized what had been wrong with our field trip Kool-Aid: we'd forgotten the sugar.
And I wrote all of that, because it seemed to me, "there has to be a lesson in there somewhere".
You know those things you hear, and you think, "That's got to be a sermon illustration"?
Well, it seems to me that there's got to be a sermon illustration in there somewhere.
But so help me, I can't figure out what it is.
There's your story anyway: don't forget the sugar.
Anyone want to help me with the interpretation?
Peace of Christ to you,
Jessica Snell
2 comments:
This made me laugh on several levels the first of which is that I have had koolaid without sugar and your right it is awful! Ironically i think it was my teenage self that forgot to add it :-).
The other day I was reading about the sin of virtue vs. the sin of vice. The idea being we are more likely to sin and harm others using our virtues incorrectly then to fall into the sin of vice. So we must guard and pray over our virtues and our vices in equal measure= this jumped out at me as I was reading your story. Caring (a virtue) is not necessarily a virtue at all when stripped from obedience to God or when done in exchange for something better. This caring can become sour koolaid looking tasty on the outside but accomplishing nothing of refreshing or eternal value for the receiver or the giver because it is done void from our Savior.
Koolaid sounds wonderful in the heat I think I shall no go make some, and add the sugar :-)
Yes, we can do an awful lot of harm with our virtues, apart from obedience to the Lord. But sometimes I think we can get so scared of messing up that we don't even try! (or, at least, I know that's where I get to, sometimes.)
I think on either side, walking out in obedience and faith is the way to go.
Thank you for the thought-provoking conversation, and I hope the Kool-aid was good!
Post a Comment