Forgetful fish helped me understand how I can be fireworks to God. Last night I was at Borders with friends when Kate began talking about Todd, one of her pseudo-pets. I say "pseudo" because Todd is a fish, and I say "one of" because there is also a tiny lizard in Kate's life called Clyde. Compared to say a dog, cat, or parrot, Todd and Clyde show no emotion and are sort of impossible to interact with. But luckily Kate has a boundless imagination, often spending more time in unrealistic realms than realistic ones, and therefore believes herself to have deep and meaningful relationships with her pets/non-pets, whatever.
What actually began the conversation was Kate's Snapple lid. Snapple lids have interesting little-known facts inside them, making Snapple kind of more trendy and marketable, and Kate's lid informed us that goldfish have only a three second memory span. Having been reminded of this Kate shared with us that because of Todd's lack of long-term memory she feared him to be bored. Well all assured her, loudly I might add (and probably to the annoyance of fellow Borders Cafe patrons) that it was absolutely ridiculous to think that Todd could possibly be bored. I went on to back myself up by saying that to Todd everything is a first time, eye opening, delightfully surprising experience. If Todd were to come to Borders Cafe, I imagine it might go something like this:
*one-one-thousand*..."Hey cool!"
*two-one-thousand*..."Look at that roundy red thing she keeps gulping on."
*three-one-thousand*..."Hm...that's pretty neat..."
*one-one-thousand*..."Holy crap -look at that!"
*two-one-thousand*..."I've never seen anything like it."
*three-one-thousand*..."I wonder why she's drinking out of it..."
*one-one-thousand*..."Whoa! Does anybody else see that!?" ...etc., etc.
Life to a forgetful goldfish is like a fireworks show all the time; everything is a new adventure, and even the most mundane thing, i.e. a coffee cup, is far beyond boring.
We all had a laugh and when I was home getting Brennan to bed, I began thinking about Todd again. His forgetful nature reminded me of the character of God. Not, of course, in that every three seconds God may look down from heaven above and say in his thundering Most High voice, "Well how did all that get there?" But rather, it got me thinking of his gracious forgiving forgetfulness. Isa. 43:25 says that He alone is the one who blots out our sin and never thinks about it again. In Micah we get an awesome metaphor of God's compassion and forgiveness: You will trample our sins under your feet and throw them into the depths of the ocean! Sometimes I think to myself, God can't really see me as a beautiful new creation, or think of me as his perfectly made daughter. But Todd helped me realize that it is possible.
Every time I muddy my soul with selfishness, every time that I doubt, pout and covet -as soon as I remember my Father and sincerely apologize, wanting to do better -it goes to the depths of the sea, never to be thought of again. Every three seconds God is getting a look at whole new me. A clean new version of myself trying to be more like Jesus this time. I may even be so bold as to say that He is just as enamored with me at that moment as Todd is with a coffee cup...*one-one-thousand,* *two-one-thousand,* *three-one-thousand*: "Wowee! Look at this nifty thing!"
To Todd, life is exciting, new and beautiful -and to God, I can be a Fireworks show.
*one-one-thousand*...oooo!....ahhhh!...
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