TODAY THE WORDS are INSTANT PUDDING. I was cleaning out my kitchen cabinet where I had some boxed items stored. One of the items I was throwing out since it is not on my “healthy” eating program was a box of instant pudding. For some reason, this stuck in my mind and was front and center this morning. How many of you have made instant pudding and have given it any thought of how instant it really is? I used to use it frequently in a lot of desserts and of course I made the old fashioned puddings too. There was a huge amount of difference in the time and the instant saved me several minutes and that seemed very important at the time. What came to my mind this morning was the thought that even though it was quicker, it might have contained  chemicals which could possibly produce toxicity in the body. I may have traded a few minutes for a long time to cleanse my body of those toxins. Others were affected by my choice too. I had the choice of using natural ingredients but at that time of life, we had not been made aware of what effects an “instant” decision could make and that brings me to my deeper thought…..In life we, as humans, want an instant fix. When given a choice to do it the better way or get the quick remedy, we jump at the instant cure. Commercials are famous for offering “instant” cures for wrinkles, body tightening, spanx for appearance of lost weight, incredible overnight weight loss, and on and on. Is instant the way to go? Instant results are not usually permanent results. Even though it may taste or feel good at the moment; we are usually dealing with a bitter aftertaste. The wrinkles come back, the spanx come off, the weight finds it way back on the hips, and only true dedication to changing to exercise, good healthy eating habits, proper care of one’s skin and body makes good changes for us. I now come to the real purpose of this message….We can be saved in an instant by God’s grace but it is going to take time for our souls to understand the real meaning of salvation. Even though we may get an “instant” high; we have to be willing to go through a metamorphosis of finding out what the new course of life’s journey takes us. Don’t be too instant in changes as God will direct each of us for our “natural” soul healing.