The Chocolate Incident

 That morning, it looked like a crime scene after some sort of chocolate and rice puff battle! The bowl was facedown. Its entire contents were splashed 360 degrees across the floor, up the walls, between kitchen cupboards and appliances, pebble-dashing everything with soft brown rice puffs! Even with my best cleanup efforts, this would be an easy job for forensics! I thought.

I stared in horror at the rice puff particles and streaks of sweet sticky brown milk. What was he trying to do? I was about to express my disappointment when I stopped myself. Looking into the widening eyes of my son, I saw concern that he would indeed be on the receiving end of a verbal lashing, and for what? For trying to make his own breakfast? The verbal lashing suppressed, I expressed my pleasure at his effort to prepare his own breakfast and assured him that the mess looked worse than it actually was. Together we strategically absorbed the mess with reams of paper towels that were easy to condense and dispose of.

 We all mess up at times, don’t we? We feel deflated and discouraged when only our failures, not our efforts or achievements, are acknowledged. This can discourage us from trying again, from growing and developing. I was reminded of how God treats us when we wander offtrack to do our own thing when we make mistakes and leave behind far worse than a mess of chocolate rice puffs. It is often not a pretty sight. But God—loving, patient, and sympathetic—shows infinite mercy. He helps us clean up and in a way that would leave forensics totally baffled! Then He sticks with us, reminds that we can trust Him, gives direction, encourages us to try again, and lets us know that He is always there to see us through any future difficulty. He gives us second chances over and over; every morning, there are new opportunities. His faithfulness is great, indeed. Let us be grateful. Let us stay faithful to Him!

 Denise Roberts