Wiley Coyote and the Pursuit of Godliness
By Cindy Amelung
Synopsis: Steps to making God number one in your life.
I have confession to make – I love Wiley Coyote. He is far and away my favorite cartoon character. Why? First of all, he’s cute (beauty is in the eye of the beholder, I know). Second, he is the most persistent character. Passionately, feverishly devoted to one single pursuit – the capture of the Road Runner. More than anything else in his life he wants to forever silence the Road Runner’s ‘meep, meep’! He is one focused coyote! I dearly love the Acme kits Wiley Coyote uses; he is quite the resourceful creature (my third reason). Somewhere in animation land there is an Acme catalog that contains every kit ever invented for the capture and consumption of the Road Runner. Fourth, my coyote friend is hopeful. It would be easy to say he is hopeful to the point of absurdity, but you can’t deny his hopefulness – he always believes that the next Acme kit will be the one that finally brings success. Finally, he is indefatigable in his pursuit. Whether it is a stick of dynamite, a catapult that malfunctions and leaves him under the boulder, or the edge of the mountain that gives way and leaves him under the anvil, Wiley Coyote always, always gets back up and tries again.
So, what’s wrong with persistence, focus, resourcefulness, hopefulness and limitless energy? Nothing - on the surface. However, as much as I love Wiley Coyote, he is an incredibly misguided creature. Did you know that on the average coyote’s ‘prey of the day’ menu, the roadrunner is number three? Number three. They actually prefer rodents and hares – I checked that out in the Encyclopedia Britannica. Roadrunners are skinny and musclebound; not much meat on their little bones. Rodents and hares are easier to catch and have more meat (they also taste like chicken). So, why on earth would our coyote friend devote his life to something so hard to capture? Why does he chase so hard after Number three?
Why do we chase so hard after things that are of no eternal value in our own lives? Just like Mr. Coyote, we can be resourceful, persistent, focused and expend enormous amount of energy on our families, jobs, friendships and hobbies. Is this a bad thing? Not in and of itself. The problem is when we choose all of these other things over a pursuit of a deep and abiding eternal relationship with God Himself. On our ‘priority list of life’, where is God? Do we see Him as Number one on that list and pursue Him first, or do we, like Wiley Coyote, chase after numbers two, three, four, etc., and say we don’t have time to pursue #1?
In recent weeks, I have had conversations with several women who have confessed that they know God should be their number one goal and passion in life, but that He isn’t. I commend their honesty – at least they aren’t in denial. What I would suggest is this: think about an average day, week, month in your life. Don’t you always make time for what you deem is important? We are all busy – we all have too much to do and too little time to do it in. That is a fact but it cannot be used as an excuse. I work an average of 10 hours a day week in and week out. I work some Saturdays as well, and I am a single woman. There is no one to do chores for me, cook a meal, run an errand or otherwise relieve my workload. If I don’t do it, it doesn’t get done. As cute as my cat is, he doesn’t have opposable thumbs and he doesn’t help.
We choose what we will expend our time, energy, finances and talents on. Godliness is a choice. Pursuit of God is a choice. Making Him your #1 relationship and passion is a choice. So then, is there a spiritual Acme kit available to us? You bet there is. It is called God’s Word – the Bible. Read it, study it, apply it, live it out, memorize it, share it, ‘open wide your mouth and God will fill it’ (Psalm 81:10).
If God is not #1, I challenge you to begin to pray. Pray to be more in love with Him. Ask Him to rearrange your focus. Seek to fellowship with Him. Knock on the doors of Heaven until He answers. I can personally attest to what happens when you ask God to be more in love with Him. He will blow you away - overwhelm you - with who He is and what He does. When you choose Him first, He allows the rest of your life to fall into place in the right priority. I can guarantee you that He will honor your obedience and submission and unlike my little coyote friend, you will no longer being dining on the #3 item on the menu. You will have Him. “O taste and see that the Lord is good (Psalm 34:8).
“Seek ye first the kingdom of God and His righteousness and all these things will be added unto you” Matthew 6:33).
Copyright © November 5, 2005 – Cindy Amelung. All rights reserved.
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