Our pastor’s kid hauled these freaks from the back garden and plopped them on the front porch. I thought they looked bad in the patch. Seeing them all together, all their deformities and discolorations on side-by-side display, kind of shocked me, honestly.

 

How in the world did this happen?  This is not what I thought I bought!  The seed package showed regular, smooth, big, beautiful, ORANGE pumpkins!  Now, I am staring at some twisted sick joke! Some bait-and-switch advertising! Promises made and not kept! I should get my money back! I have been conned!

Even our youngest kid, now a senior in high school, acknowledged the deformities while on his way out the door at 6:50 this morning.

How in the world did we get pumpkins like THIS?  They look like they have a BAD case of acne!

 

He doesn’t mince words.

I laughed. Sort of.

And then he said something profound. Something that makes me proud and humble at the same time as his mom . . .

Maybe God planned them this way.

With a wave of his hand as he scurried off to catch the bus, he added . . .

He’s got his reasons.

Yeah. My dear third of three with numerous, permanent, invisible disabilities . . .

God has his reasons.

And maybe God planned each of us the way we are and maybe God leaves us the way we are—warts and all—acne and all—deformities and all—invisible brokenness and all—sickness and all—inadequacies and insecurities and disabilities and ALL.

Because, after all, God’s FOR us ALL (Romans 8:28-31).

Because, after all, God LOVES us ALL (John 3:16).

And God wants to work WITH us and THROUGH us ALL to expand His Love and Truth. Here. On this whirling sphere in the vast space of a universe He created.

Maybe, just maybe YOU and I were created perfectly by a perfect God who LOVES us even in our rebellious, turn-away hearts and minds and souls enough to say it to us straight through blemished pumpkins and a once-orphaned Russian kid covered in body lice and inner parasites.

Maybe, just maybe YOU and I are HERE on this sphere spinning madly out-of-control (so it seems) so the weakest and blemished and “least” of us can witness to the crazy goodness of our God who measures with His own scale—His own tape—His own standard—which is all about setting EVERY captive FREE (Isaiah 42:6-7).

Free from self-judgment.

Free from other-judgment.

Free from the WORST judgment—the judgment of the Accuser (Revelation 12:10)—the father of lies (John 8:44). The thief—the murderer—the destroyer (John 10:10). The hide behind the scenes perpetrator who tries to work through others.

So stop.

Look at these “freaks”.

I looked at their bumps and their flesh of a different color. And I thought . . .

They’re beautiful in their own bumpy way.

And maybe, just maybe, God intended for certain seeds in the packet to turn out a bit different.

Maybe, just maybe, God wants the “different” to stand out and stand strong.

Maybe, just maybe, God has a purpose and a plan for even ME.  And YOU. Bumps and bruises and gashes and ALL.

Indeed.

Amen.

So be it.

Embrace your Lord Jesus by embracing yourself, His beloved, and your “neighbor” who might look a whole lot different than what you expected—or wanted—or thought you ever needed.

You’re beautiful in His eyes, because He created you “as is” and has redeemed you “as is” for holy purposes.

Rejoice!

Stand tall!

Give God all the glory for creating such a BEAUTY—in YOU!

 

For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.

 

Ephesians 2:10