Life is like a bunch of bananas.

When Forrest Gump said "Life is like a box of chocolates. You never know what you're going to get."

There is some truth to that but it's misleading. A box of chocolates is sweet. It usually has good memories associated with it or you got it as a gift from a loved one. Even the gross fruit flavored goo ones can be chewed fast enough to convince yourself it was worth it because you got to taste the chocolate on the outside.
As I was standing in my kitchen today, thinking about the million things I think about on a daily basis, it hit me like a ton of bricks. Life is like a bunch of bananas.

With bananas, you know exactly what you're getting. A banana. But you get them home and by that evening they may already be starting to bruise or turn brown. Isn't that us? Our circumstances have "bruised" us? Or we are tiptoeing around life and helicoptering over our kids like we do when the cashier starts to put our bananas in a bag. (You know you do it. You searched through every bunch for the perfect one and if she bangs one banana your nostrils flare like a bull). Life can have us in the security of our "bunch" and snatched by ourself in a heartbeat.

But one of the biggest ways I thought life was like a bunch of bananas is when you talk about attitude and sin. The riper the banana becomes on the inside, the darker the peeling becomes. It starts with a few spots. When it's just a few spots, the banana can still be peeled and used for something greater than just itself like banana bread or banana pudding. But if left to keep getting darker, the banana gets so mushy, it will not even peel, is of no baking or eating use and must be thrown away. You can smell an overripe banana from a mile away and it attracts fruit flies. Something doesn't go our way- bruise. We didn't get that new job- spot. We were short tempered with our spouse today- fruit fly.

The good news is, we have a God who loves us. Instead of throwing us away, he's able to renew us when we repent of our sins. Then we turn into that lovely yellowish green banana again. Then it's up to us where we go from there. Are we going to let our circumstances and bruises define us and make us super mushy or are we going to make some good ole banana pudding?
1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 ESV "Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you."