Perfect Pumpkins (and people)

Sometimes I learn the most valuable life lessons and spiritual truths in the most unlikely places. I love how God reminds me that He is everywhere by teaching me awesome things in everyday situations. This happened a few weeks ago when I visited a pumpkin patch with my youth group. We were each supposed to pick out a pumpkin and carve them together later that evening. We do this every year, and it's one of my favorite fall youth activities. Anyway, I am not extremely picky about picking out pumpkins, so I pretty quickly found one I liked. I put my name on it and added it to our wagon. However, one of the other girls in my youth group, Emma, was having a little trouble finding a pumpkin. I decided to help her, and we started walking all over the pumpkin patch looking for that perfect pumpkin. She looked across the field and said, "That looks like a good one!" We walked over to the pumpkin only to discover that one side was covered in bruises, so we moved on. We then found a pumpkin that looked perfect. It was shaped perfectly and from what we could see it was smooth and ripe. We thought we had found the perfect pumpkin. However, when we rolled it onto its side, we saw that part of it had rotted, leaving a big hole. That was pretty disappointing because everything else about it looked fine! After a while, I saw a pattern developing. So many of the pumpkins that looked perfect from a distance were actually bruised or rotting away on the inside. It was at that moment that something occurred to me. I looked at Emma and said, "that's just what it's like with people. Some people just look absolutely perfect on the outside. It seems like they have everything going for them and they don't have to worry about anything! But in reality, the most perfect-looking people are usually the ones that are broken and hurting the most." I have found this to be true over and over again! I used to look at other girls and think "She's perfect. I can never be that good." It sure seemed that way to me. She was popular, beautiful, and always had the cutest clothes. She was good at dancing and sports and all of the boys liked her. Plus, she made good grades. Some girls are like that, and there's nothing wrong with any of those things. But I think what gets us most of the time is that we don't see the whole story. We have no idea what's really going on in that girl's life. She could be crying herself to sleep at night because her parents just got a divorce or someone in her family is sick. She could be constantly struggling with insecurity because she feels like everyone is watching her and waiting for her to mess up. She could be dealing with depression or anxiety. She may have lots of friends, but none that she can really count on when she needs someone. We need to remember that absolutely no one has a perfect life. Everyone has been hurt in life and everyone has a story. Some people struggle outwardly, and some people keep it all locked up inside and act like they have it all together, but the reality is that no one is perfect. Instead of looking at someone and thinking "That person is perfect. I'll never be that good," we should be thinking, "That person looks like they have it all, but I wonder what's really going on in their life? I wonder what happens when they go home and they're all alone?" I have found that I need to be praying for all of the "perfect people" in my life instead of being jealous and competing with them, because most of the time, they are the ones that are hurting the most. I'd say I had a very successful day in the pumpkin patch, and thank you, Emma, for enduring a little miniature sermon :) This is a picture of Emma and I after she finally did find "the perfect pumpkin":