Out of the Mouth of a Four-Year-Old!!!

A trip to visit my South Carolina grandbabies is never complete without a visit to The Olive Garden. Next to Chik-Fil-A’s playroom, it is their favorite restaurant. In case any of you gourmets are wondering, it’s the breadsticks and yummy macaroni and cheese that ranks top.

Our last “top spot” outing, however, served us more than carbs. We, adults, all ate “crow”. The server of this hard to swallow Vittel was none other than my four-year-old grandson, Zachariah.

Anyone who has ever been to The Olive Garden knows by the end of your meal, there’s more plates on your table than grains of salt in your shaker. Such was the case for us, with actually a couple of plate towers even rising amongst the dishes.

As we, adults, rose to leave, Zachariah inquired, “where are you going?” His mommy responded, “home”. Quite irritated, my young grandson scolded, “We can’t go home”. His mommy replied, “the bill and a thank you token for the kind lady who helped us is paid. Time to go home”. Now fully upset, Zachariah, pointing to the table and in his outdoor voice reprimanded, “Look at OUR mess. We can’t leave this mess. We need to clean it up.”.

Out of the mouth of a four-year-old came a universal shortcoming — even for us, Christians. Cleaning up our mess is something from which we so naturally try to sneak away. Sadly, I’m not just referring to a messy table but, also, the messes of our lives.

Why is it so hard to cleanup our messes? Maybe because we look to ourselves and lack of our own ability, instead of gazing upon our Lord and the sufficiency of His power. It takes humility to clean up our wrongs. It, also, takes pride in God to admit we need His help to clear away the messiness we have caused.

To this Grammy, my greatest awe in Zachariah’s rebuke was his ability to stand up, even in the midst of a crowd, and confront what was in his little mind — an inexcusable retreat from cleaning up a mess with his nametag on it. He claimed his mess, wasn’t about to walk away from it and would have himself carried his mess all the way to the kitchen sink to get things washed clean. So why do we, adults, struggle with carrying our messes to where they can be washed clean?

Zachariah’s mess could be resolved in a soapy sink. The messes of our lives need to be absolved in the font of God’s forgiving waters. After putting the table in better array, we entrusted the busboy’s tray to transport our mess to a soapy sink. Our lives’ messes, still in total disarray, can, also, be carried away and fully cleansed, if we just place them in the hands of our God.

“I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you will be clean; I will cleanse you from all your impurities and from all your idols.” Ezekiel 36: 25 (NIV)