Ice Cream and Brain-Freeze Lessons

It's strange how quickly a good thing can become a bad thing. Ice cream is definitely a good thing, but too much of it in one bite and you'll experience brain-freeze.

I remember sitting at my grandmother's dining room table, where we ate every Sunday after church, anticipating the moment when I would be served a cold bowl of homemade vanilla ice cream. I was practically salivating while I waited for my serving to be dished. I was eager to dig in because, as the old Shake 'n Bake commercial used to tout, "I helped!"

My younger sister and I helped by feeding the big blue ice-cream-making-machine plenty of crushed ice and salt. Being accustomed to licking bowls of cake batter and homemade frosting off the beaters, I always tried to eat the salt and ice, thinking it would be a tasty precursor. Of course, they weren't tasty. No matter how pretty the rock salt looked, one small taste was more than enough.

As our dessert was served, I was always warned to take small bites and eat slowly. When I didn't, the inevitable and instant headache helped me slow down for the next bite. Actually, I was incapacitated for a few moments, so that slowed me down, too.

Unfortunately, not every good thing in life offers brain-freeze to help you slow down and take the proverbial small bite. I'll bet you can think of a few examples in your life of good things that in large quantity have begun to feel like bad things.

For instance, you probably have a long list of good things to accomplish this week, but they seem like bad things because the list feels so overwhelming. Or maybe you've eaten a few too many bowls of ice cream this summer and now need to take the time and energy to lose the extra weight. Maybe God has answered your prayer for a spouse, but the extra laundry and cooking threaten to overwhelm you.

Whatever your good-thing-turned-bad might be, the Bible has some encouragement for us. It tells us, "There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under heaven" Ecclesiastes 3:1.

What's the season of your life right now? We aren't meant to do every thing every day. Life isn't good about telling us this truth. Unlike the brain-freeze we get from too much homemade ice cream, life beckons us to do it all, right now.

Maybe this isn't your season to get plenty of sleep, so you can spend time holding your little one. Or maybe your to-do list never gets completed because you've gone back to school. Perhaps you wish you could take a big bite out of success, but you know that you weren't created to work 50, 60, 70 hours a week.

"There is a time for everything." When we listen for our Heavenly Father to tell us what we should include in this season, and obey when He tells us to drop something good, we will experience joy and peace.

It's a little like finishing a delicious bowl of homemade ice cream without getting brain-freeze.

Heavenly Father,
Thank You for the seasons of our lives. Thank You for creating a time for everything. Please help me understand what You want for me in this season of my life. Please enable me to concentrate on what You want me do right now. Help me to listen and obey when You ask me to drop something that seems good, but is only getting in the way of what You've designed for me in this season. Thank You for caring about my life.
In Jesus' Name,
Amen

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