Many years ago in the heart of autumn, I was driving down a beautiful West Virginia road; the grass was still green, the leaves on the trees vibrantly yellow, red and orange accentuated against a crisp blue sky punctuated with brilliantly white cumulus clouds. Ahead I could see a small white church and in front a sign with familiar black lettering asking for roasted peanuts.
I pondered this strange request for at least several seconds. It went something like this: Why would they need peanuts? Why do they have to be roasted? Are there elephants living here that I don’t know about? Why don’t I know about them? I need to see these elephants…
As I approached the sign I could see clearly that it read, Needed: Foster Parents. Aside from realizing I didn’t have my glasses because I “didn’t need them”, I just laughed at my mistaken conclusion and promised myself I would go to the zoo and see elephants soon.
It wasn’t until a few years later that God brought this memory back in a whole new way to illustrate my denial on a much larger scale. In what I inaccurately believed to be my darkest hour, He was trying to show me that I had been driving through my life without corrective lenses that I undeniably needed, drawing conclusions based on an illusion fed by naïve, adamant, and devastatingly misguided pride.
I try not to dwell on what could have been if I would have been more obedient earlier. Instead I stand amazed at how God has brought me through each of my valleys stronger and more ready each day to say, “your will, not mine”. My corrected vision is far from 20/20, but I drew a line in the sand, and I stand on the side of Christ.
Roasted Peanuts 