doing the chocolate dance

Wisdom is not gained by passive absorption. It must be consumed and savored. It must become the focal point of our thinking. -- Chris Tiegreen, The One Year Walk With God

I love the mental picture that comes to my mind when I read Proverbs 4:20-21. "My son, pay attention to what I say; listen closely to my words. Do not let them out of your sight, keep them within your heart; for they are life to those who find them."

When I read those verses, I envision this little boy chasing after his Father and leaping into the air to grasp his words as they float, swirling and twirling on every fleeting breeze like snowflakes, from his lips. The little boy is excited with this game he and his Father are playing. He giggles and squeals with delight as he anticipates his daddy's every word and the chase that ensues.

One night last year, my friend took me with him to spend the evening at an art museum in town. At that time, there was one exhibit at the museum which centered entirely around chocolate. Within the exhibit were all these different booths set up sampling chocolate and displaying things made out of chocolate. One booth was particularly amusing to us. The "vendors" had in their station something that was similar to a plastic phone booth and there were hundreds of chocolate wrappers lying on the ground inside. One by one, museum patrons would zip themselves inside the plastic booth. Once secured inside the plastic lining, the patron would meet with a great gust of wind coming from the floor of the booth which would send the wrappers swirling around his or her face and body. The object, of course, was to grab as many chocolate bar wrappers from the air as possible in the short amount of time allotted. The end result: a whole chocolate bar in exchange for every wrapper.

We watched person after person go inside the booth because it was so amusing to watch them do their "chocolate dance" amid the blizzard of wrappers. They would look so frantic and desperate as they grappled in the air for promises of chocolate. Eventually, we ran into another friend of ours at the exhibit and the friend I was with conned him into entering the plastic booth under the false pretense that we would then do it as well. Our friend did pretty well at collecting a nice handful of wrappers and he graciously shared his chocolate winnings with us despite our trickery.

Do we ever look like that? Do we ever resemble a child scrambling to catch his Heavenly Father's every word? Do we ever look like the patron in the plastic booth, hungrily stuffing wrappers into our pockets in eager anticipation of the rewards they represent? Or are we merely spectators in this life of faith - spectators who hope to benefit from someone else's chocolate prizes? Are we content to let the words fill our ears and sink into the abyss of our mind, hopeful that their final resting place will benefit us in some way or cause us to supernaturally grow with little or no effort?

I have to think that faith without ensuing action isn't really faith at all. If a life touched by the blood of Christ (or by the words of Christ) isn't a changed life, then it is not a life worth living.

As a child, I soaked in all the Bible stories and Scripture memory verses I could get my hands on. In addition to my Barbie dolls and the traditional doll house, I had Bible action figures and a Jerusalem "doll house" that my dad built for me. I would spend hours in play with Ruth, Esther, and David, moving their plastic legs through my cardboard city. I would line up my stuffed animals and babydolls to tell them stories from my makeshift pulpit (an upturned wooden footstool). I sang along to Psalty's Scripture memory songs that bellowed from my favorite red, plastic cassette player. Wow, I was such a freak.

Then somewhere in my adolescence, my passion died down for awhile. I grew complacent sitting in church on Sunday and grew satisfied with simply letting the words fill my brain. In a way, I expected that to be enough. For awhile, I was satisfied with the passive absorption Tiegreen was talking about.

I'm so grateful that God has brought me out of that stagnant state and has re-ignited my passion for His Word and has shown me firsthand how vital His Truth is to my daily life! I'm so thrilled to be doing the chocolate dance for God's words of wisdom. I just hope it doesn't end when my time runs out in the booth. And I hope I don't hoard all of the "chocolatey" wisdom for myself, but that I share it instead with everyone around me.

For me, the chocolate dance comes as a result of spending time reading my Bible every day. It comes about after applying Godly principles to my life that my pastor preached about on Sunday. It's a result of the discussions I have with my home group each week as we dissect Scripture passages. The chocolate dance comes in the form of Christ-like conversations with family and friends and Godly reactions to circumstances and situations. The chocolate dance is recognition of God's hand in a beautiful, blue sky or a breathtaking sunset. The chocolate dance is giggling until there are tears running down your cheeks as you share your heart and open your arms to your girlfriends who are going through this life journey alongside of you.

The bottom line: God's wisdom is dark, chocolatey goodness for the soul.