Inventions

My son in law went into a McDonald's and with his order was given the empty cup and nod toward the fountain drink dispenser.When he got there a little boy was using a white ketchup cup to capture Sprite from the spigot, which he quickly slurped down and then refilled, again and again.

Curtis smiled at the boy and said, "You look like you are having fun."

"Yup!" said the kid. And then with a huge twinkle in his eye, "I invented this!" Curtis laughed and said, "I bet you did!"

 When my granddaughters heard the story they said, "Oh dad! You should have given him your cup!" But Curtis wisely said, "No - that would have spoiled all his fun!"

I laughed. Something about that story makes my heart happy. Very happy. Probably because the kid was beating the system. Maybe because every kid needs moments like that are ridiculously free. Certainly because Curtis entered into the joy with him.

But there is more. I think God is like that with us. He doesn't want to tame us, to make us all proper or even right. He wants us to be whole, not just holy. Sometimes our definition of holy is pretty scary - generally contained and tamped down. Rarely would we think of holiness as a wide open field, a flock of birds, or a child's laughter over a ridiculous feat!

When you have Sprite pouring down over your hand and you are slurping your drinks inappropriately, don't imagine that God wants to stand you up straight and make you more domesticated, decorous and proper. He probably just wants you to get him a little tiny drink!