i don't want God to be a leftover in my life

so many of us have good intentions, especially when it comes to saving our leftovers. after a meal we pack up the extra food in containers and safely store it away in our refrigerator believing we will eat it before it goes bad.

some of us do it out of habit-we saw our parents doing it when we were growing up. some of us do it out of guilt-there are so many starving people in the world. some of us do it out of thrift-we hate to see good money go down the drain.

but most of us-if not all of us at times-let those leftovers spoil.

they sit and sit and sit, slowly getting pushed further and further to the back of the shelf, as we search around for different foods and more exciting choices.

that's not to say we don't take a bite here and there.

the mashed potatoes might get eaten up. the chicken might get finished. even the apple pie might have a chance. (let's be honest, the apple pie always has a chance!) but the lima beans, the peas, the leftover spinach?

not so much.

and as the days turn into weeks, if truth were told, our good intentions get ignored, get forgotten and get old...more often than they get remembered.

as i was throwing out my forgotten leftovers today it made me wonder if that isn't the same way some of us treat God.

if we go to Him out of habit.

if we say we put our trust in Him out of guilt.

if we slowly push Him further and further to the back of our lives sometimes forgetting that He's even there.

and i realized that God wants more than our leftovers...God wants to be the main course.

remember Thanksgiving? when the smell of turkey fills the air? when it comes out of the oven and someone starts carving it but you just can't wait, you have to sneak a piece or two because it smells so good? and after that first bite that's all you can think about. how good that turkey is. how much you can't wait to eat more.

suddenly for a few moments, the tv isn't as appealing as it once was. the magazine doesn't hold as much as excitement as it once did. and the internet...well, it will just have to wait. after all, this is turkey we're talking about!

God wants that excitement from us. He wants the desire that makes us not able to think about anything else. He wants us to be so excited about spending time with Him that we put everything else to the side. He wants us to crave spending time with Him just like we crave our deepest desire. He wants to be more than something we just push to the back of our lives ignored and forgotten.

i don't want God to be a leftover in my life. i dont' want to push Him to the side always looking for something different and exciting. i don't want Him -and the world- to think that something else can take His place.

because nothing, not even apple pie, can even come close.