Lesson from a Mushroom

Philippians 1:6 Being confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ:

I went for a walk in the park the other day and came across this interesting looking mushroom. I happened to have my camera along so took some pictures of it so I could go home and try to identify it. I spent most of an hour and a half searching all the mushroom indexes I could find on the web, but to no avail. I finally decided I must indeed have seen a rare mushroom. I joined a mushroom forum on the web and posted pictures of my find, asking if anyone knew what it was. Here is the answer I got: "Hi Marsha, It looks like a shaggy ink-cap to me, although it is well past its sell-by date. Alan" My daughter got a good laugh on me as she ran off up the stairs saying, "I hope you had fun with your OLD mushroom!"

But wait, take a close look at it. There is a lesson in this mushroom. Take a good look at the side view. Do you ever feel like your life looks like this...coming all unraveled and just not going the way you expected it should? Have you ever felt like the Apostle Paul when he said, " For we would not, brethren, have you ignorant of our trouble which came to us in Asia, that we were pressed out of measure, above strength, insomuch that we despaired even of life:" (2Cor. 1:8 ) This mushroom doesn't look very nice from the side view and many times our lives don't look like we had planned from our point of view either.

Now take a look at the mushroom from the top view. It has an intricate design and pattern to it. It almost looks as if it has white lace on it. The Master Designer had a plan and design for this mushroom that isn't visible when you look at it from the horizontal, but when you look at it from the vertical view....from God's point of view, you can see the pattern. " Being confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ:" (Philippians 1:6)

That's the way it is with our lives. So often all we see is the tangled mess that our lives have become, whether through illness, pain, job loss, relationships gone bad, or you name it. We don't see our lives from God's perspective. He knows why He has allowed these things into our lives and He is using them to make something intricate and beautiful. "And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose. For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren. " (Ro 8:28-29, emphasis mine)

"...to be conformed to the image of his Son..." That is the goal of all we go through on this earth. That is the pattern and design God sees from His point of view looking down on us. Take a lesson from the mushroom and be encouraged! God knows what He is doing in our lives.

Dear Father, Your creation has many lessons for us to learn if we will stop and take the time to see them. Help us to always set our minds on things above, so that we will learn the lessons You have for us each day. In Jesus', Amen.