Green Hands

I caught them green handed. Last week I had left two of my kids home (sort of supervised) while I took the most “dangerous” of the children and I say this in jest, but not really to his archery lessons. As I pulled up into our driveway, I was greeted by my lovely children along with a couple of the neighborhood girls. They had green hands covered with green food coloring and looking quite sheepish like they’ve gotten into something they were not too sure about, but nonetheless exclaimed...”we’ve made SLIME!” Oh yeah! yeah for me.... I come to discover that they had used their box of cornstarch supplied by my husband who had purchased the supplies for this “science experiment” the night before. I must interject: my 11 year old son told me on the phone prior to this, that Dad was supervising this activity and made the assumption that Dad was in on the game...but, he wasn’t because he was on the phone working. Meanwhile the younger child and his minions did not get the “memo” regarding not making green slime without a parent and proceeded to mix a whole bottle of green food dye and a whole bag of white flour, cornstarch in several plastic cups. With our silverware on the new patio furniture. They were so proud of themselves for making green slime. I was in a state of mental panic thinking of how the laundry would be green for months when I walked onto the scene.

In an effort to bring a sense of “order” to the green slime chaos I freaked out a bit because the dog was ferociously eating the floury green goo. I imagined green dog vomit on my carpet. This did not help the situation at all. My voice, frustrated and thinking how stupid was I to leave two kids home and trust that something wouldn’t have gone horribly wrong was expressed by my disapproval and horror at the scene. As I poured out the green guck in the yard, I looked up and saw our little neighbor friend holding her green stained hands up as if to surrender and tears streaming down her face...

“Are you afraid of going home with green hands honey?” I asked

She nodded with a worried face.

“I am so sorry for freaking out, I will help clean you up...don’t worry...trust me...”

I took the two guilty slime producers into the kitchen and told them to put their hands in the sink as I sprayed their hands with Tilex. Our little friend’s face turned on a dime, amazed at how the bleach took all the food coloring stains off her hands in seconds. She was no longer a liability to anyone’s white walls including mine. I wiped her tears from her face and said something simple and looked her square in the eye... with love and whispered a heavenly secret in her ear. Then I sent them both outside to continue to play.

She was free.

Something kept repeating in my mind during this little scenario that John Lynch, author of The Cure asked in a recent small group I attend. “What if you were really in trouble, you screwed up...do you have someone you trust to talk to about this with?” Most people don’t. They live life isolated and alone when it comes to the nitty gritty of the “ugliness” of when we are at our worst. This past week I’ve really thought about how I don’t trust many people when it comes to myself having green hands after making slime. I think it was the complete hands up with tears...frozen in fear scene that showed me a part of myself. My heart melted and realized I related in my own times of royally screwing up that I am scared. A part of my own fear of having someone walk in on my slime making production and completely freaking out about the mess.

“This is YOU” God said. “Who are you going to be...to that little girl? Someone who she can trust? or someone that freaks out over green food coloring because it’s messy?”

Sin is messy.

I went slightly insane at the scene of green slime all over the yard and frankly they didn’t know any better. I had the power, the knowledge to remedy the problem. Fear holds us back, but so does ignorance. How can anyone trust me if I respond to sin like a nut job? That’s my green slime. Anger, fear, frustration and feeling out of control (there are other colors of slime that’s just the green stuff!). Sometimes I’ve made a big mess and need someone to just Tilex my hands. I need someone with the knowledge of Grace that speaks to that fear and frustration and washes it clean. I’m grateful that His grace works everyday in my life. He frees us from the pain of fear of rejection, condemnation and even parents with short tempers. We can trust Him with our struggles and when we do...

We too are free.