I Love Candy

I love candy. LOVE it. Dream about it…

Whoppers and Butterfinger, See’s toffee, Pop Rocks, fudge, Runts, Peachy-O’s and Bottle Caps—especially the root beer flavor ones. 

But there’s one kind of candy that I hate. It’s FUN SIZE Snickers bar.

Snickers’ old tag line was “Snickers satisfies”.

But they don’t.

Especially not the “fun size” ones.

Because tiny little bars of deliciousness ARE NOT FUN. They are lies in a wrapper!  

How are you gonna give me less of something I like and call it FUN? I don’t math, but pay attention:

More bar = more fun. Less bar = less fun.  

If I want to be satisfied I have to eat a whole bag of them and pile the wrappers around my comatose body. YAY! SUGARRRRRRRRRRRRRRR!

Even then, I come back for more the next day.

As I study the life of King Solomon, I see that he find himself (to a much greater extent) in a similar situation. There was a time in his reign that he had turned from God and he says that whatever his eyes wanted—he had. He kept no pleasure from himself (Ecclesiates 2). Wives and wine, great art and music, the best foods, most entertaining guests…everything that he could think of to try, he did.

If there was ever anyone qualified to teach us about accessing pleasure, it was old ‘Sol.  After all, this man had unparalleled mental, material and political resources.

But he ended up still unfulfilled. Unsatisfied. His life felt “Fun size.” He found pleasure for pleasure’s sake to be “vanity” or meaningless.

These lyrics to an old school Andy Mineo song “Fool’s Gold” sum up what Solomon must have been thinking in kind of a modern way:

You need something real, baby-that ain't never gon’ last
That's just fool's gold. That ain't treasure that's trash 
And I - I know it look nice, I know it look nice
But that's a rip off for that price! 
That ain't treasure, that's trash 'cause it ain't never gon’ last

If you feel like you’ve been putting time and energy into things that are ultimately unsatisfying, join me in asking God to help me “turn my eyes upon Jesus.” Because I’m not signing up to live a “Fun Size” life. I don’t want to get caught up in the pull and allure of pleasure seeking.

I’m interested in a life that satisfies.

Eternally.

--Amie