Careful with what is important

By Jeff Becraft

 

Blueberries are probably my favorite fruit. In fact, I have blueberries with my breakfast almost every single morning.

The other morning, I had too many things in my hand and was trying to do too much at one time (and that’s not the first time that’s happened in my life).  As I’m going to put the container of blueberries back in the refrigerator, along with some other things, the container tips a little bit. I had not sealed the container carefully. The container tilted, popped open, and half the blueberries came spilling out all over the kitchen floor.

Now, blueberries are very important to me. They’re my favorite. But I wasn’t careful in closing the lid or keeping the container upright. And because I wasn’t careful, half of them went spilling out all over the floor.

This is true in our lives as well. If we’re not careful about guarding what is most important, it will be easy for it to simply slip out and go spilling out all over the place.

I wasn’t planning on the blueberries slipping out. I wasn’t planning on the blueberries going every which direction all over the floor. My plan was that they were going back into the refrigerator and they were going to be there until I wanted them again.

But because I wasn’t careful, what was important to me wound up slipping out.

It is significant for us that whatever is most important, we guard that and we’re careful with it. We don’t handle it carelessly. Otherwise it can just slip through the cracks and then we’ll wonder what happened. Whether it be relationships or whatever, if it is important, we need to be careful to pay attention to it.

And besides being careful, if something valuable does go through the cracks, there is another principle for us.

As stated, those blueberries are important to me. They’re my favorite. Not only are they my favorite, but we paid for those blueberries. They belong to me.

So I got down on my hands and knees on the kitchen floor. And I rounded up every single blueberry and put them back in a container so I could wash them later on … so I could enjoy them the next morning for breakfast.

I didn’t just let it slip away. I didn’t just say, “Oh well… that’s just the way it goes.” Or something like, “It is what it is.”  No… I got down on my hands and knees and I scooped them up. I went after that which was valuable to me.

So, if there is something that’s important to us that has slipped out of our lives, we need to get down and do whatever it is we need to do to recover that which has slipped away… and return it to its proper place in our lives.

If that is what I do with blueberries, how much more so with the more significant things in our lives?

 

Jeff Becraft is the Interim Director of Our Place of Hope and the Director Emeritus for Youth Corps and has dedicated much of his life to helping shift the vision of people’s lives. Youth Corps is a life-changing leadership development experience that inspires high school students to be leaders in the Midlands and beyond. You can connect with Jeff at  [email protected].