I have heard of those orange people before – you know, the ones who eat so many carrots, their skin turns orange?
I’ve always thought it would take a very weird person to end up in such a situation. I mean, first of all, who actually likes carrots enough to eat so many, it alters their skin color?
And secondly, it doesn’t take a very intelligent person to think, “Hey! My skin is orange. I need to put down the carrot, and pick A DIFFERENT VEGETABLE TO EAT!!”
It’s not that complicated.
But here I am. With bright orange hands.
How did this happen?
Well, I eat a lot of vegetables. Particularly, soup. I have perfected my vegetable soup. Oh, it is so good. I have figured out exactly what I like in a vegetable soup, and I experience much pleasure from my bowl of soup.
Yes, it has carrots in it, but it also has lots of other vegetables. And yes, I was eating it two or three times of day (my snack options are very limited…), but still. It has lots of other vegetables in it!!
Then at Christmas, I was driving, and happened to look at my hands on the steering wheel. I thought, “My hands look…orange. That’s weird…..Am I eating too many carrots, or what?”
I asked Ben about it, and he thought I was being silly. Of course they weren’t orange!
I forgot about it for a few weeks, until one day when I was washing Kaylia’s hands. I saw our hands in the mirror, and compared to her little hands, my hands were bright orange.
Ben still thought they looked fine, but I decided at this point not to listen to him anymore, and emailed my naturopath.
Sure enough, it turns out that some people are really sensitive to the level of vitamin A in their bodies, and will turn orange sooner than the average person.
Lucky me.
No more carrots for a long time! Fortunately, I’ve faded enough that no one notices my orange hue unless they are really looking for it, and we all compare hands. So I don’t feel quite as self-conscious about the whole thing!
But here’s the thing. My orange hands are making me think about spiritual stuff. That sounds like a huge stretch, but here are my weird thoughts:
It just happened. I ate carrots, and ate carrots, and ate carrots, and suddenly, there were the orange hands. I didn’t think I was doing anything strange or excessive, it was just part of my life.
I look at my orange hands, and wish that it was as easy to show Jesus in my life as it is to be…orange.
The single-parenting thing has made me tired and impatient at times, and I get frustrated, and don’t respond in the calm, gentle way that I wish would. I try so hard to be the way I know God wants me to be, but then something frustrating comes up, and the same old reaction spills out.
But the other day, it hit me – I’m more focused on the end result than I am on the process to get there.
I try to be patient, but it’s focusing on God, praying, reading His Word, controlling my thoughts – that will bring me to the end result.
What I continually put into my body will be what comes out.
If I eat foods containing vitamin A, all the live long day, then yes, I will end up with orange hands.
If I keep putting Jesus in, again and again, all day long, then when the difficult moments come along, I will not spew impatience and frustration.
I heard once that if you fill a glass with iced tea, and you bump it, obviously iced tea will be what spills out. Not water!
You get out what you put in.
I would love to choose Jesus again and again, until the point where He pours out of my life without me even trying to make that happen.
When I get bumped by life’s frustrations, I want to spill Jesus!
Ordinary Days 