One morning I saw a little boy, maybe five years old, riding the smallest of two-wheelers in a large parking lot, under the watchful eye of his mother. It was after the rain of the previous two days,
and predictably, the little guy, rather than riding on the safe and sensible blacktop, made a beeline for the perimeter mud puddle.
As he raised his feet off of the pedals and shrieked with delight, his mom was shrieking too, but with a nameless emotion somewhere between resignation and chagrin. So what was the difference?
Clearly, the two viewed the same mud puddle quite differently. What the five year old saw as an attraction, challenge, and playground, mom saw as dirt, distraction, and danger. At worst she could see her son taking a needless spill, and at best she could see herself doing extra laundry!
I wondered if God sometimes views us as that mom saw her little boy. He sees us veering towards what appears to us to be good and attractive while ignoring His warnings and concerns. But at stake is much more than road rash or a stubborn stain on our jeans. For sometimes, the risk is our very soul. The Bible (Galatians 6:1) reminds us, “Keep watch on yourself, lest you, too, be tempted!”