Toodles and His Marbles
MERRY TUESDAY BY PARRIS BAILEY-
I loved the movie “Hook” with Robin Williams as Peter Pan and Dustin Hoffman as Captain Hook. In the movie, there was a guy named Toodles who had lost his marbles and would walk around saying “lost, lost”. Thad Butt (one of the Lost Boys) found his marbles and returned them (Which in reality his marbles were his happy thoughts). Maybe you too have lost your marbles and you have grown up to become a lawyer and have forgotten how to fly which was the case of Peter Pan. I love the line from Wendy when she said, “so Peter, you have grown up?”
I think people take their lives for granted. Everyday seems just like the day before. We find ourselves in ruts that we can’t get out of. Poor eating habits, lack of exercise, downer friends and working at jobs that we hate, all make for a very toxic lifestyle. Being a pastor, Frank and I have been at many a bedside staring into the eyes of regret. Would you like me to go on? We live with the TV on all day and night, or playing the latest XBOX game, with the curtains drawn having no concept of the outside. The yard never gets done, (if you have a yard) cleaning, painting and paying bills is something you avoid at all costs. And we wonder why we struggle? As a Christian we must answer the question that Jesus is asking us. Are we experiencing the abundant life that He has promised or do we even care? The Marysong girls are finding out that there is another way. To most of them, going outside, going to the beach sober, and even ordering Starbucks is all new to them. Yes, it takes months to create new habits and thought patterns. One story about the girls I found interesting, you see after a few months we give them an iPod to listen to Christian music while they work. One of the girls, after listening to the songs for the first time, put down the iPod uninterested. Months later, she absentmindedly put it in her ear to listen to it. Within seconds she found herself knowing the songs and entering into fellowship with her Lord. As we grow in the Lord we will find our appetites change and also our behavior. Thats what makes growing in Christ exciting, there is a reward for our labor. It’s time for all of us to find our happy thoughts again!
The Preachers Homiletic Commentary says this, “His love is more lasting in its effects while wine perishes and soon ceases to exhilarate and refresh. Christ’s love is eternal and unchanging in its effects as well as in itself and is able to fill the soul with joy in the absence of all earthly comforts, and the loss of all earthly possessions. His love is more beneficial for it exhilarates the soul, and through that, influences the whole man. His love purifies while it gladdens.”
It’s time to throw out the old wine, turn off FOX NEWS, STOP LISTENING TO PLASTIC FACE PREACHERS, OPEN UP THE CURTAINS, GO OUTSIDE AND PLEASE FIND YOUR MARBLES!