The Clams Have It All Over Us

Did you know clams have it all over us?
They sure do. I heard a pastor say this in a sermon recently and it made me chuckle.
What in the world could those slimy shell covered little ocean dwellers have over me?
Well, for one thing---They are perfect.
They are exactly as God made them to be.
The way they look, the way they eat, live, move and thrive--when they act clam-like, they are acting exactly, precisely, perfectly as God created them.
Let me put it another way: There are no sinful clams.

I am not all I was created to be.  I struggle to be a good person. A nice person. A decent human being. A loving Christian, friend, sister, daughter, aunt...
Sure, I have moments where I am pretty good. Occasionally, I exhibit flashes of glory--glimmers of the real Hope. Usually these come when I am completely rested, my prayer life is good, the Dodgers are winning and I've had plenty of chocolate. Then I remember, without Christ, I can do nothing. So I can't take the credit for any of my goodness anyway.  And no matter how good I get, it certainly doesn't get me any closer to heaven. Jesus took care of that.  But it still would be nice to one-up the clams in the here and now. Fact is, I am never going to be all God created me to be in this world, not until I am with Christ in the next. Until I shed this imperfect shell I am currently in and get my new, perfected, redeemed, eternal body (The one without the achy knees and dry eyes) I am just going to have to live with the fact that for now, the clams have it all over me.
But listen up clams!
Before you guys get big heads, remember, at least I'm not going to end up dipped in garlic butter and dropped down some chubby tourist's throat on Cape Cod. Oh, and one more thing: Sorry about what's happened to your living space. I bet you wish we humans could keep our sinfulness to ourselves instead of wreaking havoc on you, too. You just want to sit there in the ocean, happy as clams--but no! We humans have to go throwing our cigarette butts, pesticides and motor oil down the storm drains and mucking up your pretty little sea space. I don't smoke, avoid pesticides and go to Jiffy Lube for my oil changes but, I do have to admit that as a child, I peed in the ocean next to the Santa Monica pier once. Sorry about that. But anyway, congratulations on being a perfect clam! Someday, I'll be perfect too. Until then, I am going to enjoy your perfection in my imperfection ---see it as a reflection of the One who made you.  Like C.S. Lewis so eloquently put it--I am not going to stare at the sunbeam; I am going to look up the sunbeam to the Sun to see the Creator of all that is perfect, My Perfect Creator.  I will smile and splash in the perfect waves of the sea, relish the perfect sand beneath my toes, and turn my face up toward the perfect soaring seagull, flapping it's wings in the perfect blue backdrop, under the Perfect Sun.

-Hope Horner, 2013
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