The Truth About Beavers and Other Things

Matthew 16:24, John 16:33, Isaiah 41:10, Matthew 28:20

Five-year-old #1:  My brother lost all ten of his teeth.

Five-year-old #2:  That’s not right, people have more than ten teeth.

Five-year-old #3:  Justin Bieber.

Five-year-old #4:  A beaver has two teeth. 

Welcome to kindergarten, where communication is like a dot-to-dot picture with many numbers missing. It’s wild and wacky and hard to follow.

But you don’t have to sit criss-cross applesauce with the kinder-crew to experience that sort of unpredictability. You simply have to breathe. Because life is exactly that way— there are no numbers to follow and we don’t know where it’s going next.

Thankfully, there is one who sees the end from the beginning. He invites us to follow him. And since he is the one who dreamed up five-year-olds, baby teeth, and beavers, and I’m the one who recalls nonsensical conversations among children, but forgets where I just put my phone, following him seems wise. 

But wisdom sometimes eludes me and, like a young child, my attention wanders all over the place. I hear snatches of this and snippets of that and end up with something that sounds remarkably like dialogue between kinder-cuties. Minus the cutie part. Here’s a glimpse of what I like to call Conversations in my Brain That I Pretend Make Sense. . .

The Lord: If you want to come after me, you must deny yourself, take up your cross daily, and follow me.

The Culture: If you want to live happily-ever-after, you must follow your heart.

The One Who Can’t Find Her Phone: I’m going after the dream of making everybody happy, so I must deny myself, take up my coffee daily, and try to follow everyone’s wishes.

* * * * *

The Lord: Here on earth you will have many trials and sorrows, but take heart, I have overcome the world.

The Culture: Believe in yourself. You can overcome anything.

The One Who’s Still Searching for Her Phone: I can’t believe all these trials and sorrows! My heart can’t take it! Way too much to overcome in this world.

* * * * *

The Lord: Don’t worry, I am with you always. 

The Culture: Don’t worry. Keep positive thoughts with you always.

The One Who Remembered She Let Her Grandson Use Her Phone To Video Action Figures: I’m positive I need to worry because the possibility of something going wrong is with me always.

These varying viewpoints hopscotch around in my brain causing trouble because they can’t play nicely together. But I have a choice. I can allow them to play tug-of-war with my thoughts.

Or I can be wise and listen to Truth…

If you want to come after me, you must deny yourself, take up your cross daily and follow me.

Here on earth you will have many trials and sorrows, but take heart, I have overcome the world.

Don’t worry, I am with you always.

Those statements make sense together. And while they don’t provide dots to follow, they give us something far greater— peace. 

And in case you’re wondering, God created beavers with twenty teeth.

What suggestions do you have for staying focused on the truth?