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"Aunt Lisee, can I have a gwape?" It was the fifteenth time sweet William, my 3-year-old nephew, had asked the question.

"Pweessseee, can I have a gwape?!"

And fifteen times I had explained that the grapes weren't real. The red beans and rice we were having for dinner weren't quite done yet, and Will had been eyeing the fake grapes that sit in a wooden bowl on my kitchen counter. He thought they were just what he needed to fill the ache in his stomach.

"Aunt Lisee, Aunt Lisee, caaaan I pwese have a gwaaape?"

Since I hadn't been able to convince him with reason, I decided to use a more concrete approach.

"Here, Will. You can have this, but it's not a real grape."

He took it. He put it in his mouth. I expected wails and a possible fit when he discovered it wasn't real. But he didn't say a word. He sucked and sucked until all the plastic fuzz that gives that real-grape illusion was gone. Then he put the slick plastic gwape on the counter, and walked a way with a confused look on his face.

It reminded me of all the times we don't listen when God says "Don't beg for what's in the world. It's not real. It's not what you need to be happy."

Instead we beg more incessantly.
"God, pleeease give me more money. That will make me happy."
"I neeeeed a brand new car. This one's soooo old."
"If I don't get that designer purse, I'll just diiiiie."

Or, we do what we know is wrong, because God can't really know what he's talking about.
"Gossiping about my neighbor will quell my gnawing."
"Sex before marriage can't really be wrong"
"Getting revenge will make me feel so much better."

And we put the plastic grape in our mouth, suck off the outside, and walk away confused because we were using the wisdom of a three year old, instead of the wisdom of God to satisfy our desires.

Part of God's wisdom is found in 1 John 2:15-17:

"Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him.
For everything in the world--the cravings of sinful man, the lust of his eyes and the boasting of what he has and does--
comes not from the Father but from the world. The world and its desires pass away,
but the man who does the will of God lives forever" (and has all her gwape expectations fulfilled).

"Today's Little Lift" from Jim Bullington

Mercy and not Sacrifice (Sept. 29, 2010)