Batteries Not Included
Megan Breedlove Have you ever stood in the shower, feeling the water beating down on you and listening to a purple caterpillar, lying on its side just outside your shower curtain, bleating the same sad, slowing, and increasingly tuneless few electronic notes over and over?
I have. Not that long ago, in fact.
You see, I am a mother of small children, which means that I don’t get to take showers alone. So there I was, pursuing the ambitious goal of getting clean, when suddenly, the door opened. In came my then three-year-old daughter Ellie, pursuing her goal of being with Mommy anywhere and everywhere. She brought with her her Alphabet Pal, a purple caterpillar with twenty-six legs, one for each letter of the alphabet. This caterpillar is supposed to do various things, depending on which button you push, such as teach phonics or play songs. The only problem was that today, “Ah-Pal” was not successfully doing any of those things.
“Mommy, it’s not working,” Ellie said. To demonstrate, she tried to make it play the song she wanted by pushing one of the buttons. We listened together as the poor caterpillar struggled through its notes, finally ending up several steps below the correct pitch.
“It needs batteries,” I said, “and then it’ll be just fine.”
“Can you get me some batteries?” she asked. (I guess interrupting my shower to get her some batteries seemed like the logical thing for her to ask me to do.)
“Go ask Daddy,” I said.
She dropped the caterpillar on the floor and ran off to go find Daddy, which would have been fine, except that one of the caterpillar’s legs got pressed when it hit the floor, and it stayed that way. Hence, the same repeated, no-longer-musical, “guess-I’ll-have-to-get-out-of-the-shower-after-all-to-turn-it-off” notes.
Fortunately, Ah-Pal had landed close to the tub, and I was able simply to reach an arm out and turn it off. I smiled about the incident, shaking my head and thinking, “Yep, I’m a mother.”
And then, I thought of something else, and suddenly, this was no longer just about caterpillars, batteries, or even a shower.
I imagined Ellie realizing her toy wasn’t working and coming straightaway to find me, believing that I held the knowledge and abilities to make it right. Then, when I told her what needed to be done, she immediately acted upon my proposed solution, trusting that if she did what I said, it would all work out.
Dear Mommy Friend, do we trust God like that? As earthly mothers, we are finite, and our abilities to make things right are limited. But we have an omniscient, omnipotent, and perfectly loving Heavenly Father. When things go wrong, do we approach Him with perfect trust, believing that He will and can help? When He gives us direction, do we then act upon it, knowing that our all-wise, all-powerful God has just given us the key to making everything right?
In this case, everything was made right with batteries and a screwdriver. Sometimes, though, circumstances in life can’t be fixed, and the only way to make things right is not to change what happened, but to cling to God with the strength of a toddler who would rather die than be separated from his mother.
Dear friend, I don’t know what it will take to “fix” the situations in your life–big or small, now or in the future. But I do know that when the batteries are dying and life struggles to produce even a discordant tune, you should run to your Heavenly Father, as fast as you can go. When you get there, tell Him what’s wrong. Then trust Him to know what must be done. If His solution requires action from you, do it. Immediately. And if the solution is nothing more-and nothing less-than clinging to Him, do it. Immediately. He will never let you down.
Proverbs 3:5-6-Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths.