Lessons from little people

The other day my youngest son was having trouble with his asthma. It was a clear and beautiful Missouri day with low humidity, so the other three kids were enjoying the great outdoors. It can be rough for a little guy not to always be able to run and play outside. With a pitiful look that would melt even the hardest of criminal hearts he asked, "Will you play with me?"

Of course! I'm a dad...that's what I do. Never one to pass up an opportunity to ignore my wife's "honey do" list (did I just type that out loud???), I dove in headfirst. My son proceeded to lug one of those utilitarian plastic molded storage tubs up the stairs. What happened next you ask? You guessed it...he proceeded to dump the full contents onto the floor. Right in the middle of the floor. All over the floor.



If you have kids or grandkids you are probably familiar with Playmobil. You could probably say that Playmobil is Lego's pompous and pretentious cousin (they have a 3-d online catalog, for goodness sakes!), however Legos are getting pricier every time I go shopping for them. I'm not sure when we began our excursion into the land of Playmobil, but the carpet was covered in farm animals, medieval castles, Victorian home elements, policemen, and much more.

"How in the world are we ever going to make sense of this mess?" I thought. Can't we just play a board game or something? Arm wrestle? Write a song? Nope. This is what he wanted to do. Feeling bad for the little fella I got of my lazy duff and got to work. Well, I certainly couldn't do any good standing up or sitting on the couch. "Come sit down here with me, dad." my son said.

It was amazing how easy things became as we sorted through every piece (Why do these things have so many pieces?) , one by one laying there on the carpet. Once I got down on the same level as the poor little dismembered figures I realized that it wasn't such a daunting task. I could see exactly what they were missing and find it for them. I could see what part of the house or the barn or the trebuchet (told you they were snooty!) was incomplete and search for the right pieces.


Then it hit me like a ton of (Lego) bricks. Isn't that exactly what God did?

Sure He was the God who could do anything, and He very well could have wiped out every last one of us rebellious cretins, but he chose to become one of us...to roll up His sleeves and lower Himself to our pitiful level. Can we even begin to fathom what an enormous chasm there is between Him and us?

We would be aghast if one of us chose to leave the comforts of home to live with a pack of wild hyenas...to eat with them, live with them, love them. We would call that someone certifiably insane. But isn't there less difference between humans and hyenas than between God and man? There was, until God became a man.

"But God commended His love toward us, in that, while we were sinners, Christ died for us." Romans 5:8

How easily we forget. How awesome His forgiveness.

And I thought I was just going to play with my son.