Zookeeper

James 4:8-10

Come near to God and he will come near to you. Wash your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded.  Grieve, mourn and wail. Change your laughter to mourning and your joy to gloom.  Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up.

 

Whenever I read these kind of verses, I often think about how I'm not doing this correctly. Sip some coffee, I read and think. I'm reminded of the movie Zookeeper with Kevin James. It came out in 2011. I didn't see it until a few days ago on redbox, which reminds me, I haven't returned it yet. It's about a zookeeper who gets dumped by his girlfriend due to him being "just a zookeeper". Un beknownst him the animals at the zoo begin speaking to him about getting this girl to like him again. What he learns is that, she wants him to be someone he's not. How many times have i wanted to be someone I wasn't. Honestly? not many. It's been more, I don't believe I can be who I am. This guy tried to be somebody else in Kevin James style, which was hilarious. I find God wants me to do the same thing. Try something and see if it works and then when I come back and say what's wrong with me God? It's this process that God takes me through. I can't stand it. I want this right the first time. I read and think. This scripture starts and ends the same way. It's the beginning and ending to a video, something is in between. But what is in between. It's the heartache, the pressure, the identity, the dismay, the confusion. Why can't I just humble myself? Why do I think so much about why?

 

Hits me, since humbling myself and drawing near to God are the obvious quick solutions, but sometimes not mine, I have to look at all the middle. Just like making sure the middle of the video flows and transitions into the ending, many times its forgotten, but its where I grow. Where I learn to be humble. I may not be a zookeeper who thinks he's just a zookeeper but I am who God made me, and I have to believe and love that, even if it means bloom where I'm planted when it hurts.