HAPPY HANK

As I walked into the room, my 8 month old daughter, Lucy, was sitting on the floor giggling uncontrollably. Lucy drools when she laughs, and I watched as a shiny pearl gathered on her lower lip before dropping to a soggy spot on her shirt. She was laughing at my two year old son, Bowden, who was rolling around on the ground yelling “Pookie-Pookie!” over and over again. “Bowden is such a ham”, I thought to myself, as I watched the spectacle from the doorway. Bowden loves making Lucy laugh, and it was obvious that he was enjoying himself. He was growing louder and wilder in a bid to keep Lucy laughing, but despite his best efforts, Lucy’s attention was returning to her toys. In one last desperate attempt to keep the good times rolling, Bowden grabbed “Happy Hank”, a stuffed dog who shares encouraging words from the Bible when you press on his stomach, and hurled him across the room. I watched as Happy Hank sailed over Lucy’s head and landed face first against the dresser. As he landed, Happy Hank declared “Give thanks to God for everything!” I had to laugh myself at the irony of that. Lucy also rewarded Bowden by laughing and slapping the ground. Bowden, seeing that he had his Dad and Sister in stitches, proceeded to abuse Happy Hank with greater savagery. He jumped-on, kicked, and squeezed him, and all the while Happy Hank responded with “Smile, God loves you!”, “Praise the Lord!”, “Let your light shine for Jesus!”, or one of fifteen other prerecorded sayings.
The scene reminded me of something that the missionary, Amy Carmichael, once said; “a cup of sweet water cannot spill one drop of bitter water- no matter how suddenly jolted.” James 3:10-12 puts it this way; “Out of the same mouth proceed blessing and cursing. My brethren, these things ought not to be so. Does a spring send forth fresh water and bitter from the same opening? Can a fig tree, my brethren, bear olives or a grapevine bear figs? Thus no spring yields both salt water and fresh.”
Just as is the case with Happy Hank, sometimes our true programming is revealed in the midst of a trial. I want to respond like Happy Hank, but I confess that all too often when the world jumps-on, kicks and squeezes me with the vigor of a two year old I respond in ways that are not pleasing to God. I respond in like fashion. When the bills pile up, when people talk behind my back, when catastrophe and injustice knock on my door- it is during these times that my true programming rises to the surface, and I don’t always like what I see. I am sick of conforming to the patterns of this world. I want to be like Happy Hank. God, transform me, renew my mind through the study of your word, speak to me in the quiet places of my heart, please show me your good, and acceptable, and perfect will (Romans 12:2). Lord, help me to be more like you.