“Nothing but sincerity as far as the eye can see.”

Ever seen Charlie Brown? Linus is my favorite character, I want to share a picture I recently had of him with you. Imagine this, he is waiting on a cold night on the 31^st of October. He is waiting for the great pumpkin. He believes that if he waits in the most sincere pumpkin patch the Great pumpkin will come and give him gifts. If you look close, you can see Linus’ face as he explains this, eager with anticipation. Then he looks around and claims, “Nothing but sincerity as far as the eye can see.” The camera zooms out to a scene of the endless starry sky covering a big ol’ patch of pumpkins with Linus and his friend in the middle.

“Nothing but sincerity as far as the eye can see.” Linus knew that he had to be surrounded by sincerity before the Great Pumpkin would pay him a visit. The truth in this grabbed onto me and I found myself searching for understanding, I looked up the word “sincere” in the Word. I found it in ps. 145:18, “The Lord is near to all who cry out to Him, all who cry out to Him sincerely.” The Father wants more than just us crying out to Him, He wants us to cry out sincerely, He wants our complete raw self. He wants our good moods and bad moods; He wants our big problems and little annoyances. At the end of the day He wants to know how it went. Of course He already knows all these things, but I think He likes to be told anyway.

The Father is calling me to sincerity. It’s so easy to get caught up in everything that is going on at Hua Qiao and neglect my time with the Father. It’s so easy to go through the motions; spend time at fellowship, read the Word, sing songs, and fast; but the result is always a worn out and confused Ashley. If I just give Him sincerity, if I just sit and wait for Him, telling Him all my heart, I think the Great Pumpkin or in this case the Great Father will come and give me the greatest gift; He will draw near and give me intimacy.