Pretty and Petty

Pretty and Petty 

Are you petty, Sis? 

Cuz apparently, I am. 

I don't mean to be. 

And I actually work really hard, trying NOT to be. 

But every now and again, that little thing called PETTY

Raises her pretty little head and I find myself acting REAL Ugly! 

And for no reason, at all. 

Guess that's why it's Petty, huh?  Lol

But, it's really not okay, Sis. 

And worse, it means I'm being fake on some level 

and FAKE is definitely not who I ...want....to....be! 

So what should I do? 

Well, for starters, I admit there's clearly a problem, 

Knowing is half the battle, right? 

Next, I went to God in prayer about it. 

Because I know holding on to it, won't heal it, so I knew I had to give this issue to Him. 

So I did, and GUESS ......WHAT......Happened !? 

He gave a story! 

Please read Luke 15:11-32 

I'll share the short version with you

This is the Parable of the Prodigal Son. 

Parable meaning story. 

Prodigal meaning wasteful. 

Cuz that's what being 'petty' is, a wasteful use of your time. 

Stay with me, Sis. 

In this story, a man has two sons. 

One younger, who wants to be free and live his best life! 

And one older, who is faithful in supporting his father in both his work and maintaining the family legacy. 

One day, the younger son tells his Dad that he's leaving. 

He gives him no rhyme or reasons, but asks him for his 'inheritance', before he goes. 

Quick pause here, Sis, because I really want to point out something, 

Isn't an inheritance usually received AFTER someone dies, right? 

But he is asking for it now, while Dad is STILL alive?  PETTY!! 

GIRL, it gets better! 

So, Dad, being a cool guy, does what is fair, and divides his ENTIRE inheritance up and gives each son what he is due.  Isn't that so sweet?  

So the younger son takes his money and runs off, since that's all he wanted anyway. Again, petty. 

While the older son receives his money, and stays behind, and continues to work for Dad. 

After a short time, the younger son ends up squandering all his money on what the bible calls, 'riotous' living, which basically means, he was doing too much.  

Then a severe famine hits the land and the younger son comes to his senses, after he ends up working for some stranger for pennies.  He almost starved to death! And finds himself sleeping in a pig pen.  

After having all that money though, right? 

But before we judge him, let's take a closer look at him. 

Why did he want to leave home so bad anyway? 

What made him think he was entitled to even ask for his father's money now? 

 And once he had the money, why was he so irresponsible with what should have been his blessing? 

Because he was being PETTY! 

GIRL, he didn't want his daddy's money, he was ALREADY RICH! 

That's why his daddy could give them both their inheritance while he was still alive, think about it. 

He just didn't want to stay, because he didn't want to work for his dad, he wanted to PARTY. 

How do I know? 

Cuz that's what he did, duh!  Did you read the story? 

This wasn't about the inheritance at all, it was about him feeling entitled to something, and doing what he wanted to do, instead of doing what he knew was right, which was staying with and obeying his father. '

But you'll be happy to know, this story has a VERY happy ending. 

But first, let's check in on the older son. 

Now on the outside, it looks like he's more put together. 

But remember, petty is basically being fake, so pretending is part of being petty. 

The older brother's true colors of petty are revealed, when his younger brother decides to return home. 

Do you know, he got MAD that his brother came home? 

Really! 

And not just, rolling eyes mad... 

This joker basically told his dad that he felt some kind of way, for being there working hard for his dad faithfully all these years, just for his dad to have a celebration of the return of his irresponsible brother, he actually, "This your son". 

And he even said to his Dad, " You never gave me a fatted calf" 

WOW!?  

Didn't his daddy just give him all his money, too?  And he's really MAD about a fatted calf? 

PETTY!  Lol 

Apparently, the older brother is forgetting his brother is STILL his family, too.  

I'm sure what kind of issues they had over the years, but this is HIS baby brother. 

Wasn't he even worried about him while he was gone during the severe famine? 

His brother could have died! 

But here he is, alive and well and all the older son has to show him is envy, anger and jealousy about somebody else's kindness? 

I think you get the point, envy and jealousy are ALWAYS petty. 

So let's wrap up this story. 

We have three men, a father who shows unconditional love. A younger son who shows selfishness and entitlement (petty), and an older son, who has been pretending to be good, but his true issues are revealed when his pettiness is exposed. 

So what is the moral of the story?  

We can ALL be petty from time to time. 

But there are no laws regulating petty, so we are free to do as we WILL like the younger son. 

Many of us are professionals at hiding our true feelings, so we can continue to pretend like the older son, but eventually, it WILL all come out in a heated situation like this one. 

Because PETTY is not PRETTY, Sis. 

It's formed from the ugly root of PRIDE. 

PRIDE tells me I deserve 

PRIDE tells me I am right 

PRIDE tell me I have right to focus on your wrongs 

And the bible says that " God resists the proud" (James 4:6) and in Proverbs 16:18, it promises that  PRIDE will cause us to fall. 

So, I'll ask the question again, Are YOU petty, Sis? 

Because apparently, I am. 

But as this year comes to a close, I want to be delivered from these ugly roots of PRIDE so I can be more fruitful in this next season. 

So my final step is to REPENT.  

That's the "R" that makes the difference between PRETTY and PETTY. 

Do you see it, Sis?  Because I sure do! 

I once heard someone say, ' Beauty is skin deep, but ugly is to the bone", 

which basically means you can be very pretty on the outside and still very ugly on the inside. 

The same is true about us, Sis. 

God wants us to be pretty from the inside out. 

So today, if you've identified any level of pettiness in you like I have, then it's time to repent Sis!   

Confess it to God and He WILL forgive you, I promise. 

Because let's be CLEAR, Sis

We can be PRETTY or We can be PETTY 

But we can't BE both.