Tuesday, October 19, 2010

I Boke It, Tica!

I work at a daycare with 12-24 month old toddlers. They call me Tica, which is the name my niece gave me when from "Aunt Marica" she picked out the "T" and "-ica".

There was one little girl. Big green eyes, hair always falling into her cherubic little face no matter how many bows her mother adorned her with... And at 22-months-old she knew everything and could do it all by herself!

"You're going to break it if you don't let me help." I'd warn as she pulled on and struggled with a toy that she knew came apart but didn't quite know how. I'd reach and she'd snatch away. I'd tell her to let me show her and she'd turn her back to me. Utterly irritated, I would finally just give up and turn my attention to someone else.

And inevitably...

"I boke it, Tica." There she would be at my knee, pieces of toy in each hand, looking up at me with those big green eyes. No apologies in those eyes. No "You were rights" or "I was wrongs". No excuses. Just faith. Absolute trust that I could put it back together good as new. I could have left the toy in pieces to prove the point that she should have let me help in the first place, and many times I wanted to. But that complete faith in those innocent eyes and that sweet voice with her missing R's was always too disarming. It never failed that I would pick her up and put her in my lap to let her watch as I popped little plastic parts back in place. She would grin at me in awe as I handed her toy back, good as new, and then she'd be off trying to take it apart again...

"I broke it, God" I say as I display the disassembled fragments of situation that I pushed and pulled and tugged and twisted, being sure that the desired outcome had to be there somehow, until it all just fell apart. How exasperated He must get with me, knowing that He has the answers if I would just listen and let Him. But at 24-years-old I know everything and can do it all by myself. How tempting it must be to just leave my life in the shambles I put it in, in order to teach me the lesson.

And yet how just like Him to smile, pull me into His lap and say "Watch" as He effortlessly repairs the damage I have done. And even to revel in my wonder as I look up at him in amazement when He hands me back something even better than before!

"I tell you the truth, anyone who doesn't receive
the Kingdom of God like a child will never enter it."
Jesus as recorded in Mark 10:15

9 comments:

  1. Beautiful and inspirational!

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  2. So very true, Tica. :) Great stuff!

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  3. Thanks ladies! I love how He uses the everyday to illustrate His eternal grace and beauty! Thanks for reading!

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  4. Haha! I'm no preacher, Rachel! Just honored to get to relay the goodness of God! Thanks for letting me know you stopped by!

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  5. I don't think you could have written this any more perfect than you did Ticia. Not a dry eye here! =]

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  6. As I've always said... You have a special gift for the written word.

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