Blessed to Bless! by Steve Klusmeyer
Pixie Stix Are Hazardous To Your Health
by Mike Collins
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There was a little country store in the hollow where I grew up that didn't have a name—well,
not officially. There were no signs posted on the building, but we didn't need signs to know
what was inside. We simply called it Dobb’s after the owner, an elderly lady known to the
children of the hollow as Aunt Dobb. None of us were actually related to her, but that didn't
stop us from calling her our aunt. The store has been closed for years and Aunt Dobb has been
deceased for some time now, but her memory will live as long as my mind can recall her.
I remember the wooden candy counter that looked as though it were six feet tall with a slanting glass front. I remember many times standing in front of it and drooling over the seemingly endless supply of treats and goodies. Although I didn't always have money when I went in, I almost never left empty-handed. The fact of the matter is Aunt Dobb had more heart than business sense, and could not stand by and watch children leave without a piece of candy.
One day I was scanning the candy counter when I saw something I had never seen before—a huge
pixie stick. I'm sure your remember the brightly colored paper straws filled with delicious,
flavored sugar called Pixie Stix; well this was a huge two-foot-long plastic tube filled with
the same sustenance.
I bought one and decided to enjoy it while riding my bicycle up the road. After tearing one end open, I began pouring the powdered candy into my mouth. This was fine until the candy started running out, at which point I held the Pixie Stick vertically over my mouth, which was now straight up in the air because my head was tilted all the way back. Did I mention there was a bridge involved? Well, only for a second or two; you see my head was still tilted straight up getting my sugar fix when I started across the bridge. I could not see where I was driving—causing me to suddenly plunge over the edge into the cold unforgiving creek bed six feet below. I crawled out of the creek soaked to the bone and bleeding from several cuts and scrapes. I was embarrassed that a Pixie Stick was the reason I had wrecked, so with handlebars bent almost as badly as my pride, I hopped onto my bike and headed home.
We have these types of days in our spiritual journey as well—one moment everything seems perfect, and in the next we're picking ourselves up after having fallen into messes which have caused us great pain and suffering.
I've learned a few things from that experience and have been able to apply them to my spiritual life as well. First of all, never take your eyes off Christ. The more we keep our attention focused on Him, the less scar tissue we will have. When our spiritual attention is diverted by our fleshly desires, then we will most certainly suffer a great fall.
The second thing that I learned from my Pixie Stick daredevil stunt was to always pick myself up, tend to my wounds and keep on going. Lying there embarrassed over what had caused the fall would never had done me any good—as a matter of fact, I could have died had I just lain there. But I knew there was someone who would care for me when I got home, and that mere knowledge caused me to crawl out of the creek bank and get on that bike again.
You may have recently experienced a great fall yourself. You may be lying in a spiritual creek bank at this very moment, beating yourself up over what caused your fall. My friend, don't give up; instead get up—dust yourself off, tend to your wounds and continue on the Journey. Remember, you have something to get up for—Someone who loves you dearly is waiting for you on the other side.
Never forget, what causes you to fall is not important; what causes you to get back up is the only thing that matters.
Used by permission.
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