Gum

I was at church yesterday and saw a boy and his dad in the row in front of me. The father took a pack of gum from his pocket and slid a piece into his mouth. The little boy tugged his father’s pant leg, smiled and held his hand out for some gum. Dad smiled back and handed him a piece. The boy shoved it into his mouth and began to chew. His hand balled up the silver wrapper as he looked up at his father who was busy watching the worship band play. The child took the wrapper and tried to sneak it into his father’s pocket. The dad quickly noticed and glanced down at him. His son, caught red-handed in mid-action, served up a guilty smile, but his father merely chuckled, grinning down at his boy. Then the father held open his pocket for his son to place the trash inside.

I sat back and watched this scene play out. It was only a few second long, but it touched me. I thought, “That is love. When your daddy takes care of your trash.” And it made me think of our Abba who does the same thing. He lavishes us with blessings and in the most unequal of trades, we reciprocate by giving Him our trash. Our past, our sins, our failings. Something doesn’t seem fair about that. Seems to me like God gets the short end of the stick and we get everything. But for some reason, which is beyond my worldly comprehension, our daddy lovingly takes our trash and is happy to do so. How amazing is that?

God rocks. (Hello, Captain Obvious).