Mushroom Syndrome

Do you like to eat mushrooms? I do but not everyone does. My sister doesn't like them. She calls them "fungus among us" and keeps her distance. I like mushrooms on a nice piece of steak, in a salad or just by themselves with some veggie dip.

However, there are some mushrooms that don't like us. They are actually poisonous. Not knowing what they look like, I tend to only eat mushrooms that are sold in stores.

I never eat any mushrooms I find in the woods. Some of them might look good, and maybe they are, but I don't want to take that chance. Except for morel mushrooms, of course. That's them in the picture over there. Yumm!

Early May is a good time to look for morels in the woods. Of course, one has to know WHERE to look, and WHEN. And the conditions must be JUST right.

Have you ever experienced mushroom syndrome? It has nothing to do with mushrooms really. Mushroom syndrome is more of a workplace thing. According to the Urban Dictionary Mushroom Syndrome is . . .

"A syndrome where you're fed (explitive) and kept in the dark. Derives from the method of cultivating mushrooms: they add a lot of fertilizer and keep them in the dark and damp."

We are often kept "in the dark" at work. Lots of office politics going on. Sadly, that happens in our churches as well. Have you ever been a victim of something like that? It's a sad thing to see happening . . . in God's house.

"4 What causes fights and quarrels among you? Don’t they come from your desires that battle within you? 2 You desire but do not have, so you kill. You covet but you cannot get what you want, so you quarrel and fight. You do not have because you do not ask God. 3 When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures.
4 You adulterous people, don’t you know that friendship with the world means enmity against God? Therefore, anyone who chooses to be a friend of the world becomes an enemy of God. 5 Or do you think Scripture says without reason that he jealously longs for the spirit he has caused to dwell in us?

 6 But he gives us more grace. That is why Scripture says:

“God opposes the proud but shows favor to the humble.”

7 Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. 8 Come near to God and he will come near to you. Wash your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. 9 Grieve, mourn and wail. Change your laughter to mourning and your joy to gloom. 10 Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up.

11 Brothers and sisters, do not slander one another. Anyone who speaks against a brother or sister or judges them speaks against the law and judges it. When you judge the law, you are not keeping it, but sitting in judgment on it. 12 There is only one Lawgiver and Judge, the one who is able to save and destroy. But you - who are you to judge your neighbor?" - James 4:1-12

There is no "mushroom syndrome" with God. All we have to do is ask. Mushrooms like the darkness, living in the shadows. But God will not keep US in the dark. In Him there IS no darkness - only light! We are NOT mushrooms!

Until The Whole World Hears - Reagan Ferris
Until The Whole World Hears - Casting Crowns