Submitted for your consideration: The Etch A Sketch.
Those of you of a certain age (i.e. children in the 1960s) will probably remember this fascinating little toy. For everyone else, here is the Wikipedia explanation:
An Etch A Sketch has a thick, flat gray screen in a red plastic frame. There are two knobs on the front of the frame in the lower corners. Twisting the knobs moves a stylus that displaces aluminum powder on the back of the screen, leaving a solid line. The knobs create lineographic images. The left control moves the stylus horizontally, and the right one moves it vertically.
Wikipedia goes on to note that Etch A Sketch is one of the best known toys of the 1960s and was later inducted into something called the National Toy Hall of Fame.
So what’s my point? I didn’t give Etch A Sketch much thought until I heard a chaplain use it to illustrate the reality of life and what is to come after this life.
Consider this premise: everyone’s life, including yours, is like an Etch-A-Sketch. Through our thoughts, our actions and our inactions, we twist the knobs to paint a picture of our lives.
Most of us would like to think that the picture we’ve been drawing is pretty attractive. Not perfect, of course, but still pleasing to the eye.
That’s hardly a surprise. North American culture strongly discourages any kind of meaningful examination of all the wrong things we’ve done and the right things we’ve failed to do. We’re taught, by parents, friends, workmates, teachers and the media that we’re all OK. And that’s that.
But is it?
Do something unconventional. Really think about your life, about:
- All the things you regret
- Everyone who makes you angry
- Those moments when you are accused of being petty or harbouring secrets
- Every behaviour that causes you to react negatively
- Occasions where you passed up ‘doing the right thing’ because it might inconvenience you or your loved ones
- The times you quickly, subconsciously decided to avoid telling the exact truth because it might make you look bad.
If you’ve been honest and serious about pondering these things, does your Etch A Sketch picture still look good? Mine looks like a drunk cat went crazy on the control knobs until it passed out. Ya, my picture is that messy. That ugly.
Can you fix this picture on your own? Can I? In a word, NO. We don’t have enough stamina, enough honesty, enough wisdom, enough humility to do what must be done to transform the mess into an attractive picture.
So let me be radical and suggest who can. Prepare yourself, because this really is RADICAL. I’m talking about God, your creator.
He can, and does, fix ugly Etch A Sketch pictures every minute of every day. And here’s how: He offers the gift of Jesus, His Son, to everyone who’s willing to accept Him. No matter how ugly or disgusting or sickening your picture really, honestly is, when you accept the gift of Jesus, then you hand over the Etch A Sketch controls to God.
The first thing He does is shake the Etch A Sketch to wipe out the old picture. Then He starts drawing a new one. And that picture is beautiful. It shows you as generous, humble, wise, loving and unconcerned about “looking good”.
This picture isn’t drawn overnight. In fact, God won’t finish the picture until you and I are finished with this life and in Heaven with Jesus. So it takes patience.
Does this make sense? Yes or no, post your thoughts below and let’s have a conversation.
No doubt about it: prayer is often a mystery, even to people who believe in it and practise it.
I’ll bet there are folks out there who see this meme (helpfully supplied by an internet atheist community) and think “ya, why not just our forgive sins?” Maybe you’re one of those people.
