It’s fall y’all! I love the pumpkins and pumpkin patches, crisp autumn evenings spent playing freeze tag in the yard with my kids, the weather just cool enough to see your breath at the start and end of each day, mountain adventures to admire the changing colors, mums on the front porches. The list goes on. I’m thankful for fall!
Fall itself, along with all its ensuing décor is so cozy. This is our first full fall in our new home. If you know me, you know I’m not much of a decorator. While I would love to have an immaculately decorated home, I have four kids and nil talent.
BUT, I am a sucker for front porches adorned in pumpkins and mums. Again, so cozy and inviting.
The kids and I ALL recently picked out some mums and a small fortune in pumpkins. Each pumpkin looked fantastic.
Fast forward one or two weeks and we step out on the front porch only to be assaulted by the smell of rotting pumpkin and the swarm of fruit flies!
Lo and behold, one of our previously deceptively beautiful pumpkins had collapsed due to rot from the inside out. If we didn't get rid of said pumpkin it would eventually affect the others it came in contact with.
Once we got it all cleaned up it actually provided a great teaching moment.
All those pumpkins looked really good on the outside when we picked our favorites to bring home. They all looked so handsome, bright, and crisp on the porch. But what we couldn't see was the rot already beginning in just this one.
Isn't this a lot like us? We often judge ourselves and others based on what the outside looks like: the things we see and hear that impress us. Yet, often there is some "rot" on the heart level.
It must be acknowledged we are all "rotten at the core". But thanks be to Jesus whom, when invited, cleans up that rot, replaces it with His own purity, and presents us as an acceptable and pleasing aroma to the Father.
Yet we still remain vigilant in our own hearts: keeping an eye (and nose) out for any signs of rot creeping in. We are experts at keeping up appearances while trying to cover over sin and selfishness: the stink in our hearts.
This rotten pumpkin on our porch reminded us
1. to be aware of the rot of sin creeping up in our own hearts and,
2. some people (even us) can look really great outwardly in their appearances, deeds, successes, perfectly chosen words while actually having malodorous and rotten hearts.
1 Samuel 16:7 tells us God doesn't see as we see. People judge by what is seen on the outside, but the Lord looks at the heart.
While I am so grateful (and in moments of introspection- quite humbled) in this we should all seek to do the same. Let's be and teach our children to be more introspective and honest with ourselves about what our hearts reveal. I also pray my children learn to look beyond either dazzling or dim first impressions to the heart of those they meet. May we all.
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