Ok, so unless you have grown up around the Toronto area, and the CNE (Canadian National Exhibition) has been a yearly end of summer pilgrimage, you may never have heard of a Tiny Tom Donut. If you have experienced this long time pillar of the CNE experience, there is no doubt that it is a deeply rooted pop culture phenomena. At the Ex (that what we call the CNE) you can find Tiny Tom vending trailers where you can watch these tiny donuts being made fresh before your eyes. When you purchase them, the fresh warm mini donuts are placed in a bag and then icing sugar (or now you can choose cinnamon, apple and cinnamon or chocolate) is sprinkled on top. I have discovered two little keys to maximum enjoyment. Firstly, you always give the bag an extra shake to ensure full coverage by the icing sugar. Secondly, they are best enjoyed warm and fresh not only because the donut is fresh, but because the icing sugar sticks the best. If you wait too long, the icing sugar can fall to the bottom of the bag, harden a bit, and is much more difficult to get on the donut. It is here that I found myself thinking about the life experience.
How often do we attempt to understand ourselves, define ourselves and change ourselves by externals? When it comes to bettering ourselves we can so often focus on external things, adding or subtracting habits, foods, material things etc. We approach it all from the external, and all from our own power with varying degrees of success and longevity. When it comes to the Christian experience, there is one powerful difference for which I am so grateful. Although there is much in the Christian walk calling us to change, to strive for holiness and to be transformed more and more to the image of Jesus Christ, we are not left to do it on our own. Sanctification is the term we use for the progressive work of God and man that makes us more and more free from sin and like Christ in our actual lives. Firstly, we are given God the Holy Spirit to dwell within us to change us and give us greater holiness of life. God calls us to it, but importantly also gives us the power of the divine to dwell within equipping us to make those changes reality. Secondly, this change is internal, initiating from the deepest part of who we are. The change will manifest itself in external things that can be seen, but they are the fruit of internal change and can not so easily be shaken off.
How often do we attempt to understand ourselves, define ourselves and change ourselves by externals? When it comes to bettering ourselves we can so often focus on external things, adding or subtracting habits, foods, material things etc. We approach it all from the external, and all from our own power with varying degrees of success and longevity. When it comes to the Christian experience, there is one powerful difference for which I am so grateful. Although there is much in the Christian walk calling us to change, to strive for holiness and to be transformed more and more to the image of Jesus Christ, we are not left to do it on our own. Sanctification is the term we use for the progressive work of God and man that makes us more and more free from sin and like Christ in our actual lives. Firstly, we are given God the Holy Spirit to dwell within us to change us and give us greater holiness of life. God calls us to it, but importantly also gives us the power of the divine to dwell within equipping us to make those changes reality. Secondly, this change is internal, initiating from the deepest part of who we are. The change will manifest itself in external things that can be seen, but they are the fruit of internal change and can not so easily be shaken off.
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