I received an ear of corn as a gift for driving someone home the other night. It was well past midnight when I dropped him off at his house and he ran into his garden and pulled off an ear of corn as an appreciative gift. I finally got around to cooking it tonight.
Apparently I don't know how to cook corn because it's now the second time I'm boiling it. I really miss BBQ'd corn on the cob.
When I peeled away the husk and silks, I realized...this is an ugly ear of corn. If my friend didn't read my blog, I would post a picture of it. But for her sake (and everyone else who is afraid of ugly corn), I will refrain.
Ugly corn isn't really what it sounds like. It's not like bent over crooked and discolored. But the kernels aren't straight. They aren't in perfect rows. They are...janky (in contemporary terms). There is no pattern, there is no consistency. They are yellow, bulbous, unaligned, randomly placed kernels on a cob. That is ugly corn. This one is particularly ugly because there are weird spots missing kernels.
But ugly corn is still corn. Ugly corn still does its job...which is to grow up and make fat kernels and be consumed. It's not like the ugly corn chose to grow its kernels in crooked rows and lose a few along the way. And it's not like the guy who grew the corn decided only to grow ugly corns this year. He tilled the soil, planted the kernels, weeded the soil, watered the kernels. He waited patiently for them all to grow. Then when the time was right, he plucked those ears of corn. I am a blessed recipient of his hard work and harvest.
(I'm eating my ugly ear of corn as I write this blog...and it's finally cooked and delicious!)
Life can sometimes feel like ugly corn. I feel like ugly corn some days. I got friends with all their kernels in a row--they got a job and a house and a car and a relationship and a church and they're good looking and fashionable and everyone likes them and everything is going great. When I look at them, I feel pretty ugly. My kernels aren't lined up and I got holes where kernels should be.
But regardless of how I look to myself or to others, I am still His creation. I have been given a purpose by God. Because He chose me. He knew me before I ever came to being. He knew I would feel like an ugly ear of corn and that others would tell me I'm an ugly ear of corn and my life isn't where it should be. But I am His. He carefully placed people in my life to till the soil of my heart and plant a seed. He let circumstances pull out the weeds. He surrounded me with people who showered encouragement on me. I am His creation. I am not here by accident. And my life, ugly or not, will not be wasted.
If you read this blog, whoever you are and wherever you are, if you feel like ugly corn, remember you're still corn...and Someone loves you just the way you are.
"For you formed my inward parts; you knitted me together in my mother's womb. I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works; my soul knows it very well. My frame was not hidden from you, when I was being made in secret, intricately woven in the depths of the earth. Your eyes saw my unformed substance; in your book were written, every one of them, the days that were formed for me, when as yet there were none of them. How precious to me are your thoughts, OGod! How vast is the sum of them! If I would count them, they are more than the sand. I awake, and I am still with you."
Psalm 139:13-18
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