Grass on the Moon

 

I don’t really believe that Murphy’s Law, (the adage stating that if something can go wrong it will go wrong), but it certainly seems strange to me, how every time I am running late to an event, bad things seem to happen.  It is in times like these that I catch every red light, have to wait for a train, and I get stuck behind the slowest driver in a 50 mile radius.  This happened just this morning as I was driving my daughter to her piano lesson.  I had to wait for EVERY stoplight…YES! ALL THREE!  On top of that, we had to wait for a train…and…since I am the slowest driver in the 50 mile radius…other slow drivers don’t matter. Needless to say…she was late. I blame the stoplights.

Speaking of stoplights…I was reminded recently of my son’s internal conflict with these mechanical, magical, and mysterious traffic controllers.  Apparently, in his younger years, my son Isaac believed that there were little men that would sit inside the stoplights and make them change colors whenever they felt like making the change.  If they wanted one light to stay green for the entire day, they could.  Or in the case of my trip across town, the little men living inside the stoplights could sadistically turn every light red making me wait…and eventually late.  I am relieved to know that my son now knows that little men don’t operate the traffic lights...its aliens.

Children believe strange things.  As a toddler, this same son of mine was deathly afraid that the bathtub drain would suck him in with the draining water to live in the sewers with the rats and crocodiles. When his mother would finish his bath, she would be sure to remove him from the tub before draining the water or he would scream in ghastly fear!  I, on the other hand, would purposely leave him in the tub and pull the drain plug.  This served two purposes. Firstly, It was funny to watch him scream breathlessly. Secondly, the boy needed to learn to toughen up. You never know what life will throw at you, and you need to be ready for that random whirlpool in the ocean.  Perhaps Captain Nemo would have survived through that whirlpool if his dad had pulled the drain plug while he was still in the tub?

I just learned today that my oldest daughter had the same irrational fear of draining water. Perhaps she never spoke of this fear…for another fear…of her dad pulling the plug while she was still in the tub.  I am offended. How mean does she think I am?

My daughter Carissa could handle the draining water just fine…it was the fear of being sucked into the vacuum toes first that consumed her dreams.

When I was a child, I believed that every time that I lied to my parents that I would get a black spot on my heart.  Each black spot would then work at eating through my heart like a worm through an apple, and once the black spot got all the way through the heart…I would die. I don’t know what was more concerning…the black spot eating through my heart…or the number of black spots eating through my heart!  I wonder what made me believe this stuff?  Oh…I know!...it’s because…THAT IS WHAT MY MOTHER TOLD ME!!!!

My wife believed that if she got any wrong answers, or was not fast enough with the flash cards in elementary school that her teacher would be angry with her and wouldn’t love her any more.  So to hide her imperfection…she lied and said that she couldn’t “see the cards.”  Hmm…I wonder if she got black spots on her heart too?

My little brother once saw grass on the moon with a little cardboard and plastic telescope.  Ha Ha! What a fool!  Oh Boy! I can’t tell you how my older brother and I laughed at him!  My little brother was always so stubborn and irrational.  He adamantly held to his claim that he saw grass on the moon. He wouldn’t even recant the claim under the threat of a “swirly.” Ironically, he now works in the field of science and wears a white coat to work.  I don’t know if he still believes that there is grass on the moon or not, but there is a chance…a white coat can’t fix everything. 

In Romans 12:2, Paul speaks of our need to have our “minds renewed.”  We need to think differently. In fact, I think Paul understood this transformation incredibly well, perhaps better than anyone.  In 1 Corinthians 13, as Paul is speaking on love, he inserts a powerful statement on transformational thinking.  In verse 11 he says, “When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put the ways of childhood behind me.”

I am so glad that I no longer think like a child. Oh…did I mention that it is only 6 weeks until Christmas! I wonder what Santa will bring me this year?

May we come to invite the Holy Spirit to lead us to transformational thinking and a renewing of our minds.