Tuesday, September 25, 2007

An Old Brown Bottle

I enjoyed a documentary I watched the other night – viewing the ocean floor through the eyes of a deep sea diver.
His focus was on observing the many varieties of octopuses. I would have never guessed how many there could be. Our Creator has done nothing with ‘adequate’ in mind; everything is in multiplied abundance.

One particular octopus caught the diver’s attention and mine as well.
The octopus was unique in that he had tucked under one of his many arms a brown glass bottle that he had found somewhere and adopted as his home. Rather than risk losing it he carried it with him everywhere he went.

The diver, intrigued with his attachment to the dark bottle, offered him a beautiful clear as crystal bottle that had more room inside.
The octopus seemed quite interested when offered the new bottle. He laid down his old bottle and immediately checked out the new one.
He found the opening and swam inside and around, came back out, checked out the outside once more and then went back to his brown bottle, picked it up and swam away with his old home tucked under his arm.

I thought of the octopus --- and thought of the lesson he taught.

We too, all of us, carry our ‘home’ with us. Where we live in our thoughts and attitudes and heart focus is our home. Our home determines our life choices and our daily decisions.

We were quite comfortable with our old way of living, the old dark bottle in which all our short comings, our mistakes, our character flaws, yes even our sins were safely hidden from the view of those who swim near us. It is easy to keep up an image if we live in a brown glass bottle.

But Jesus came and offered us a beautiful new ‘home’ - a clear as crystal, light filled ‘home’, where everything is open to Him who searches our hearts and also to those who swim near us. We were intrigued and eagerly examined the new bottle and tried it out!

But it is hard sometimes to live an authentic life, and sometimes we prefer to pick up our old self, our old ways of thinking or being and we swim away with our old-self brown bottle tucked under our arm, leaving the beautiful Spirit-filled-life bottle lying on the ocean floor.

6 comments:

Thoughts on Life and Millinery. said...

Julie, you are a hoot! I loved this meditation...and could imagine if a class was assigned to write an inspirational message using and octopus and a brown bottle most would be completely stumped.
Guess you have a super good "Couch" helping you with ideas, eh?

Sara at Come Away With Me said...

Julie, this is such a vivid visual illustration: the old brown bottle versus the beautiful, crystal clear bottle. . . it has impact and makes the point perfectly. Though I did not see the TV show, I will remember this story as though I did. And to think, someone's trash (the old brown bottle) became an octopus' home, was captured on film, only to become an important part of this treasure of a lesson. Isn't it amazing! Thank you for having "eyes to see, ears to hear, a heart to understand" and sharing your insight with the rest of us.

Carolanne said...

What a great analogy! It does seem harder to live an authentic life at times and to pick up our old self and ways. How important it is to leave the brown bottle behind so that we can live fully in that crystal clear one.

Anonymous said...

What a fascinating story and a great analogy! We are often just too comfortable with what's old and familiar, and unwillingly to accept what is better.

Lovella ♥ said...

I could see it all clearly. Your writing is so so clear. I really appreciate this post and will take it with me throughout the day, reminding me to be authentic and transperant.
Thank you for your continued time in sharing your gift with the rest of us.

Judy said...

I am so appreciating your devotionals. Thanks for this great illustration which I won't forget anytime soon!