A new friend told me a story that I can not let go of. He said to me that as a child, his grandmother had a huge, full-size barrel that was full of candy. His face lit up when he talked about this seamless endless supply of candy. He said one Christmas when he was a bit older, he attempted to dig down deep in the barrel, and his world came crashing down. As his hand dug deep, it was stopped abruptly by a false bottom. So an 8 to 10 inches in, there was a bottom. It made the barrel practical for things like candy, but for a child that reality hurt, and it hurt bad.
So it got me thinking. What happens when people, churches, and organizations find a false bottom? We felt that there was an abundance, and then we hit bottom. What happens then?
My friend seemed to digest reality and moved on. He did not go to the extremes. He did not deny the truth and attempt to go back to the time before he knew about the false bottom candy barrel. He also did not disown his grandmother for ‘deceiving him.’ He understood that false bottoms are a part of life. He realized he was a child and as he grew, more and more false bottoms would be found.
Life is not full because we avoid finding any false bottoms, but instead, it is complete because we learn to respond when our current reality changes. It is not easy work, but it is necessary work.
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