Cassie's Mess

Cassie, a rambunctious five-year-old, saw her daddy eating chocolate chip cookies in the living room.  She thought, “Daddy loves to dunk his cookies in milk.”  Seeing that her father had no milk, Cassie sprung into action.  She got a dining room chair and dragged it into the kitchen leaving some scratch marks on the floor.  Cassie positioned the chair just right and climbed from it onto the kitchen counter.  She pulled open the cabinet door with such force that it slammed into the wall with a terrific crash.  She reached for a glass, knocking two others to the floor sending shards of glass flying throughout the kitchen.  But Cassie didn’t care.  “I am getting some milk for my daddy,” she thought.

Meanwhile, Cassie’s daddy had come to the kitchen door beckoned by all of the commotion.  With hands on hips, he watched Cassie hard at work.  Cassie scurried down from the cabinet and over to the refrigerator.  She flung the door open wide.  She sat the glass on the floor and reached for the nearly full gallon of milk.  She opened the milk and struggled to pour it.  Some of the milk actually made it into the glass.  The rest of it splattered all over the floor.

Proud of her accomplishment, Cassie sat the jug of milk on the floor and picked up the glass.  “Daddy, daddy, I got something for you!”  Cassie shouted with joy as she ran in her socks across the kitchen floor only to slide across the floor and have the glass fall spilling its contents on the floor at her daddy’s feet. 

Cassie slowly picked herself up and looked around the room.  She saw all of the broken glass and spilled milk everywhere!  What a mess!  The cabinet and refrigerator doors were open and there was a huge puddle of milk on the living room carpet.  Then she saw her daddy standing in front of her with hands firmly on hips.  Cassie’s chin began to quiver and tears filled her eyes.  She looked up at her daddy with that expression on her face that implies, "I am so sorry. What is going to happen to me?"

Cassie’s daddy could only look at her.  He looked at Cassie, then the mess and…smiled.  Standing before him, he didn’t see a kid who had just made a huge mess of the house.  Instead he saw his child.  The little girl that he loved very much.  Cassie’s daddy knelt down to her level.  He scooped Cassie up in his loving arms, held her tightly against his chest and said, “That’s my girl!  Thank you, Cassie.”

And together they cleaned up the mess.

There you stand looking over messes you have made.  All of those broken pieces – the path that once held so much promise now lies in shards on the ground.  You stand there looking over the mess regretting both decisions and actions.  You stand there wondering what you must have been thinking in the first place.  You stand there with your chin quivering and that all too familiar look on your face.

Remember, you are a child of God.
NOTHING
...not the messes you've made or the mistaken steps you have taken
...not the lies you tell yourself or those others long for you to believe
...not the challenges you face or the sin you own
NOTHING CAN CHANGE THE FACT THAT YOU ARE A CHILD OF GOD! Live into your core identity as a dearly loved child of God.