My life has been a life of seasons. Walking my dirt road has looked different almost every decade of my life. But isn’t that one thing that holds our attention? The changing seasons. One of the happy seasons of my life was the season I kept my pre-school grandchildren. They were and are the greatest joy. I learned so much from those little fellas.

A dear friend included a candle in my birthday basket one year. This candle was a “pear candle”. I thought we would use it in the kitchen so I placed it on a shelf. Later in the day, the candle was gone. I looked and looked. No candle. I questioned my mental faculties. I knew I put that candle on the shelf!

I went to the refrigerator in the utility room to get something as I was preparing supper and there was the pear candle! I took it out of the refrigerator and put it back on the shelf. Our youngest grandson Caleb arrived the next morning. I guess he found the candle out of the refrigerator and put it back because that is where I found it the next day. And so it went. I took the candle out and Caleb put it back.

To his two-year-old mind, a pear should go in the refrigerator so it would not spoil quickly. Being two, he did not recognize it was a fake.

It made me wonder, how many times I have been an immature Christian, not recognizing “a fake”. False teaching. A wolf in sheep’s clothing. Or worst of all, when have I been a fake?

Being a true follower of Christ is my heart’s desire. Discernment is a quality I want to possess.

I have a confession to make. I still have that same pear candle in that refrigerator. Caleb is now fourteen. I leave it there to remind myself of a simple lesson. Discern between what’s real and what’s false. Sounds easy. Sometimes though, it’s really difficult.