A “memory” popped up on my Facebook newsfeed the other day. It was a picture of my youngest son playing in the backyard. 🥰
I love it when those kind of memories pop up — but something about this one in particular brought a smile to my face.
My son, who was about four years old at the time, was pretending to build something, so in true preschooler fashion, he was dressed for the part — wearing one of those bright orange safety vests commonly worn by construction workers (and one of The Village People 🤣).
Right after donning the vest, he had run over to me and proudly announced — “Look, Mom! I’m a destruction worker!” 😬
😂😂😂😂🤣
Now, obviously he meant construction worker…but nonetheless, truer words have never been spoken. 😜🤣
But in all fairness, he’s not the only “destruction worker” in the family…look no further than my oldest son’s bedroom and you will see that my husband and I have managed to spawn not one, but two destruction workers. 🙄🙄🙄
They say the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree…and while most of the time I prefer to hold their dad accountable for passing down the destructive genes — I must confess that today I ended up doing a little destructing of my own…😬
You see…after dropping the boys off at school this morning, I stopped at Walmart to pick up a few things.
As I passed the home goods section, there was a large mirror that caught my eye. It was decently priced and I knew just the right place to hang it back at home. 😍
Only problem was finding just the right place to put it in the cart…
Like I said, it was rather large.
So, I tried putting it in the cart this way…and that way… and then the other way… and well, nothing was quite working. 🤔
So I thought, I’ll just set it across the top of the cart like so and just go real slow until I get to the cash register. I’m sure it’ll be just fine.
However…it was, in fact, anything but fine. 😳
With one hand on the mirror and the other commandeering the shopping cart, I bravely pioneered my way toward the end of the aisle.
So far, so good.
But just as I began to turn the corner…things took a “turn” for the worse…literally.
Let’s just say, in the words of Miley Cyrus — “I came in like a wrecking ball!!!!”
🤣🤣🤣🫣🫢😱😭🤦♀️
I hadn’t gone more than a few feet before managing to clip the end-cap display with the corner of the mirror, sending two ceramic votives free-falling to the floor. 🫠🫣🫢😵
I cringed as the sound of shattering glass pierced my ears.
Immediately, a man in the next aisle came over to help, followed by a Walmart associate.
Mortified, I knelt down picking up the broken shards and apologized profusely for causing such a scene.
The associate reassured me not to worry, everything would be fine.
As she radioed for backup, she also instructed me not to touch anything (I think she was referring to the broken glass, but at that point I wouldn’t blame her if she had actually meant “please, for the love of all that is good, don’t touch anything else in this store” 😂).
Thankfully, the votives were small and relatively inexpensive…and Walmart was not going to hold me to the old “you break it, you buy it” slogan.
I felt ashamed, yet relieved at the same time.
😔😔😔😔😔🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏😌😌😌😌😌
Truly remorseful for my lapse in judgment and thankful for the pardon I had received, I apologized again as I slowly wheeled my buggy away from the scene of the crime vowing to never attempt anything like that again.
In fact, I put the mirror back on the shelf — taking the incident as a sign that that purchasing that mirror was not, in fact, a part of God’s plan for my life…🤣).
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Of course…if you know me at all by now, you know that I couldn’t walk away from this experience without having learned at least a couple of invaluable lessons from it.
One of which is…as alone and singled- out as I felt in that moment, I’m sure I’m not the only one to have ever broken something in a store before. And I probably won’t be the last.
And the same is true when it comes to sin.
I Corinthians 10:13: “No temptation has overtaken you except what is common to mankind…”
Romans 3:23: “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God…”
Spiritually speaking, we’re all “destruction workers.”
It’s been that way since Adam and Eve…talk about the apple not falling far from the tree. 🙄
And yet, destruction was never God’s plan for any of our lives.
That’s why He sent His Son Jesus to save and pardon us.
There’s no “you break it, you buy it” clause with Jesus around.
Why? Because Jesus already paid the price!
Romans 5:18: “Therefore, as one trespass led to condemnation for all men, so one act of righteousness leads to justification and life for all men.”
Praise God!
That’s not to say that we should just go around “breaking things” on purpose like a bunch of rioters or vandals…as Paul writes, “Should we sin that grace may abound? God forbid!” (Romans 6:1-2)
In Matthew 7:13-14, Jesus says that the broad way of living that leads to destruction, but the narrow “aisle” leads to life (even for those of us who are more accident-prone 😉).
But how do you find that narrow aisle?
In John 14:6, Jesus says, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.’”
Jesus is that narrow aisle. He is the way to salvation and eternal life. And it was Jesus himself who said, “He who believes and is baptized shall be saved…” (Mark 16:16)
In all my broken, clumsy ways, He has saved me. And He can save you too, if you will only let Him.
“Mirror, mirror on the wall…Jesus really is the fairest one of all.”
Until next time…
-PWAP
