Plastic Bag

"Did my maker exists, or had I created her in my mind? Why were my mountains of joy so brief? And yet, like a fool, I still have hope I will meet her again, and if I do I will tell her just one thing: I wish you had created me so that I could die."

These were the words of a plastic bag from an 18 minute creative "documentary" on YouTube by IndiesLab. It goes through the life of a plastic bag, which never dies. This video was more than likely created as a statement against littering and was supposed to get you to start caring for the environment, but to me it said so much more.

Like us, the bag had a "creator." Once the bag was opened at the store it was given life and its creator would be the person getting groceries. Even though these are different kind of creators I found the bag to echo questions that I have asked myself.

The first one is about the bag's doubt of his creator. Does God exists or am I just making this whole thing up? Just like the bag we tend to lose our way from God, and after a while we start to doubt. When the bag was first lost from his creator he said, "I imagined her crying, 'where is he, where is he.'" But perhaps the bag's imagination of his creator crying these words is really just an image of his own fear of where she is. God does not have to wonder where we are, He knows, but when we've gone farther than we should have we have to wonder... where is He? Yet, He's been there all along! Unlike the bag our Creator will not leave our side and leave us wandering.

The second question the bag asks is why its mountains of joy were so brief. The places the bag found its happiness was with his creator and with another bag he had found. He had spent a long time looking for his creator, the one that never came. He was broken over this, but when he met this other bag he said, "I didn't need a maker anymore, I only needed her." His happiness was dependent upon others. Just like that bag I have struggled greatly with this concept. If other people hurt, I hurt for them, and after a while I become more conscious and aware of that person than I ever was with God, and I will feel drained all the time because I can't do this without Him. During the last half of my senior year i was acquiring a lot of friends in high school, and some really needed me to be there for them in ways that just drained me. I loved them all dearly, but i remember quite vividly lying in my bed and saying to God, "I just want it to be me and You." I was depriving God of the time He deserved from me, and my happiness was beginning to diminish. I know we will never be truly happy all the time, but I also know it is better to hurt with God then hurt alone.

The final thing the bag expresses is its desire to die. Obviously we don't have the issue of living forever, but I like that it shows the bag's desire for something more. After the bag gives up on his maker he looks for paradise. Lucky for use we don't have to go looking for Paradise. But others do. There are a lot of other bags out there looking for something... and they're confused about makers, paradise, and other bags. Be on the look out for plastic bags drifting in the wind, and show them our Maker, and I'll try to do the same.

I'll leave you with one last quote from our bag friend, "I had holes, but over time I learned to use them to navigate the wind and I could fly."

With love,
Alisha

Invisible

Once upon a time there was an old grandfather clock. It was very old clock and had a few flaws here and there, but it was always passed down in the family. After a while the clock began to grow very sad in it's old age. It seemed each time it was passed down the clock became more and more invisible. The clock began to believe it was nothing more than an old relic that had to be passed down out of tradition instead of love.


One day the family cat noticed the great clock sitting in the corner of the room. It looked sad and lonely. A light coat of dust hid it's old fading wood and the quiet ticking of its heart. The cat sat in front of the graven clock, mystified by its presence.


"Why hello there, mister clock." The cat said with a flick of its tail.


The clock said nothing, feeling the cat would just walk away and become uninterested like all the others.


"Why are you so sad, mister clock?" The cat asked, tilting her head to the side.


The clock was quiet a moment more, making no sound but a creak of a sigh. "I mean nothing to them anymore." The clock said quietly, as if its voice was muffled by the layer of dust. "The Humans have grown tired of me. I am unnoticed, there is no place for this clock anymore." 


The cat stared blankly at the clock. "But I noticed you, mister clock, and I think you're wrong. I watch the humans, just as you do, and I know they look at you more than the most beautiful woman in the world."


______________________


I wrote this during high school, its gone under a lot of revisions since then, but the main concept still remains. Sometimes we all feel like the clock, alone and unwanted, but the truth is we are wanted and we are noticed. Most of the time we just don't think about the people who do care for us, and we feel alone, but at the very least God always wants us. We think if a person isn't staring us right in the face we are invisible, but God goes deeper than that; God is inside of us. God sees what we see, and He feels what we feel. We are truly never alone when we are with Him.