(Yes, I do realize how long it has been since I posted last. And no, this is not a promise that I will be posting anymore often in the future. Just felt like sharing what was on my mind today!)
This morning I got in my car to come to work and smiled as I swished last night’s cute little tree frog footprints off my windshield. As I got going down the road, the windshield had fogged up on the outside a bit, so I swiped it again – only this time, the poor little stowaway froggy decided to jump up into the path of the wiper blade. I was sick to my stomach. I don’t like to harm any of God’s creatures, even if it was unintentional. So here are the lessons I was given as I drove on to work, trying hard not to look at the bottom of my windshield.
1) From the tree frogs point of view: How often do we play out there in the edge of somewhere dangerous? We’ve gotten away with it (language, alcohol, inappropriate relationships, etc.) for long enough that we don’t even see the danger we have put ourselves in anymore. Or it might have been the very first time we jumped out there to try it, and something we didn’t see coming snuck up on us and cleaned our clocks. Danger is danger and sin is sin. It’s not safe if we only do it a little while. It’s not ok if we have gotten away with it all night long – sin is sin and it carries consequences. Sometimes very harsh ones.
2) From the drivers point of view: Have you ever unintentionally hurt someone? Maybe it was your words that swiped right out of your mouth and knocked someone down. You may not have even known they were there and in a position to be hurt, but that doesn’t excuse us from the harm we cause. Even “harmless” gossip can be a killer – we all know it can cause lasting harm to a friendship, but think what it could do to a new Christian, or maybe one who was just starting to consider God’s offer of salvation. We need to take responsibility for our words and our actions. We are accountable to God for our lives to lift up others and to not ever tear them down – even accidentally.
3) From God’s point of view: That frog was a goner. I knew it the whole time I drove in to work trying not to look at his tiny little toes caught under the blade. If he wasn’t dead yet, he would be so damaged there would be no hopping for him ever again. But you know what? I got out of the car with a napkin, steeling myself to lift the wiper blade and remove the victim of my heinous crime. I debated with myself if I could even do it, or just leave it there and have my hubby do it when I got home, but I sucked it up and decided I caused the damage, so the least I could do was to not let him bake all day. And do you know what happened? I lifted that blade and he pulled himself together and hopped away. Just like that. I thought it was hopeless. I knew it was over. There was no way he could survive that. But he did. God can do that for us too. When it is so hopeless, when we are so very broken, when we are pinned down and can’t even begin to get ourselves out of the situation we are in, God is there. He is bigger than any trouble we might get ourselves into and He will lift that big troublesome burden off of us and help us pull it back together and move forward again. Because He loves us. He loves us soooo much more than He loves that frog…
God loves me. And He reminded me of that through an experience with a little green tree frog this morning. Thank you, Father.
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