Carving My Heart

In my world, carving pumpkins ranks right up there with gardening – I’m no good at it. (See post: “Stay Connected”)

But as the kids grow older they grow more curious about pumpkins. Can we touch it? What’s inside? Can you carve a ninja? So, in spite of my lack of enthusiasm, I do it. I don’t carve ninjas, but I carve. This year, however, the pumpkin became more than just another test of my patience and spotlight on my lack of creativity ….

I found the smallest pumpkin in the house. My four oldest children followed me to the back porch and with wide eyes, and a little bit of apprehension, they bent over the pumpkin. If only they paid that much attention during a phonics lesson.

I grabbed a knife. Let the carving begin! With careful pokes I made a circle around the stem. We pulled the lid off to uncover what the kids call all the “yucky stuff” inside.

I have to agree with them. Yuck! I stopped for a moment while we all scrunched up our noses and said something like, “Ewwww.”

With a little more poking and some elbow grease behind the spoon I scraped out the goop of strings and seeds to make room for the candle we would eventually put inside. Everyone gave input on what to chisel in the shell. I picked the simplest suggestion and started my handiwork. (I use that term lightly.)

A short while later I placed my masterpiece on the kitchen counter and lit the candle. Tada! “M” for McCown. It needs a little work, but you get the idea.

As I watched the light flicker and considered how proud I was of that sad little pumpkin, I thought of my heart. I thought of all the yucky stuff inside – the goop that crowds my shell so much there’s no room for “the true light” (John 1:9). The hurt, anger, worry, pride, selfishness or {insert your goop here} …. that presses into our hearts. Ewwwwww! When I raise the lid to my heart I do not want to see that. God, get it out of there! We have to spill all the mess in our hearts before we can fill them with God’s message of light.

We have an artist far greater than ourselves to uncover this goop and remove it. With a steady, sure, and soft hand God carves. It hurts sometimes, but He never cuts in vain. He will not mess up. He will never poke more than is necessary. And when His work is done we shine.

The image we bear is His own. We are God’s handiwork. (Ephesians 2:10) If that little pumpkin, that took me less than an hour to fashion, brought pride to my heart, can you imagine how much pride our Father must take in us?