don’t cast pearls before swine… that’s how it goes, right? i mean Jesus said it and everything (matthew 7.6)

but here is another take on that perhaps? use it, don’t use it…

i’ve been listening to a song by the foo fighters (what is foo? do you think they maybe originally started out as ‘the flu fighters’ and then someone typo’d their name and the rest is history… and if you started a band and called it ‘the flu fighters’ do you think maybe you’d get a lot of foo fighter fans buying your album by mistake and it would be a good way to establish and early fan base? just a thort for those aspiring band starters…) and two lines stood out for me:

line 1: is someone getting the best, the best, the best, the best of you?

line 2: you gave me something that I didn’t have, but had no use

like maybe if you’re a pig, a pearl isn’t your biggest need… and so you’re going to rip apart the one who tosses it to you… maybe you just need a good bucket of slops, you know… and then you’d eat up and there’d be no ripping of anything…

cos when i look at Jesus, He completely gave Himself, in one sense, to the pigs, and was ripped up by them, He was a pearl, they didn’t quite ‘get’ Him and so they pulled Him apart and left Him to die… but was Jesus not following His own advice by doing that, or was He realising that the pearls He had to offer (His teaching, His lifestlye) were being ripped apart (misunderstood, ignored, rebelled against) and so He gave the best He had to offer which was Himself…

to put it another way, ‘is someone getting the best, the best, the best, the best of you?’

i’ve just celebrated my birthday (never felt younger and more alive, well maybe younger… but completely amped about life, passionate about God and people and the church as in the people of God and a new season of something exciting which still needs to be figured out) and i got like a gazillion facebook messages and sms’s and calls and it really is such a boost and an encouragement and just a general lifter and i appreciate every single one of them (thank you!)…

BUT in the midst of a rainfall of messages – and really not wanting to take anything away from anyone who posted a ‘happy birthday’ cos each one shows a moment of thought and time and effort – it is the ones where someone writes a little more than the ‘happy birthday,’ so a personalised message or a scripture or a blessing or a ‘this i dig about you’ or a wish for the future or whatever it is, that just jumps it up a notch and really has a far greater impact and appreciation – so anyone saying ‘happy birthday’ gave me time, but anyone who went further and said a little more, or the few who emailed a message to my inbox, or those who called, gave themselves, and that is always going to be a far greater gift.

and so i really tried to give myself back to a whole lot of people yesterday and spent a large part of my birthday replying to birthday messages – and i didn’t get to them all, and not even to all the people who gave themselves – i was just drawn to some people, some who gave themselves and others who simply happy birthday’d and tried to respond by giving a small piece of myself back – a prayer, a thought, a blessing etc… and i hope i was able to touch some people in return…

a large part of my birthday was spent reading and replying to messages, and it was one of the highlights of the day, cos each message is a person, and each one is important to me (and even a lot of the others that i didn’t get to)

how are your friendships – are you a ‘you gave me something that I didn’t have, but had no use’ or are you someone who can reply yes to ‘is someone getting the best, the best, the best, the best of you?’

be careful of tossing pearls, when what is needed is to give yourself…