February 14, 2010
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But then again, you are very small
Yesterday I was in a bookstore flipping through a book when a scene unfolded right next to me.
With the determined nature of a Napoleon or a Caesar, a young girl stepped into the aisle perpendicular to mine and declared, “So I can buy this one book with this one dollar.” As she mentioned each item she held it up in the air, one in each hand. She had blonde hair and was perhaps five years old. Nevertheless, the resoluteness of her edict gave away her status as the empress of many lands.
But it was not to be. Like rain suddenly invading a sunny day, her agitated mother came out of the background and said sternly, “No, that’s not a dollar, that’s a penny. There’s a big difference. We’ll talk about this later.” And with that, she whisped away the empress to another part of the store.
I stood in the aisle reflecting on how funny what had just happened was. Then I drifted into imagining being the father of a child like that someday. I would sigh heavily and then beckon the child to my knee and begin to give The Talk. “Actually, Sarah, it’s not actually true that the shinier an object, the more valuable it is. I know it seems that way, I know, but it’s not . . .”
As the day went on, the absurd image of the girl holding up a penny and saying emphatically “this dollar for this book” stayed emblazoned in my mind. It reminded me of a CS Lewis passage about how some of our questions must sound like nonsense to God. The image seemed to express exactly that. In so many cases it must seem to God like we stand up unabashedly, hold up the items in our hands, and definitively assert the most ridiculous value equations. “This charity work for this salvation” “This extra kindness to Katie for this freebie in lying to Eric” “This devotional time for this emotional peace from You”
We are all quite poor students at theological math. But what is so comforting about following Jesus is noticing how many times he listened to people say the most ridiculous things (“Can we sit next to you in heaven?” “We told a guy driving out demons in your name to stop” “Who will be the greatest in heaven?”), and how he didn’t get upset about it. Thus, while we may be very feeble learners, God is at least a very patient teacher.
Comments (8)
I think that shininess should always be deemed the primary measure of value. Haha.
That’s a great image, great observation.
You make me think and smile at the same time just about every time you post. How do you DO that?!
~V
Very nice. And a penny is prettier than a dollar bill, and as we usually assign value by the aesthetics of an object…
So, so good! Just so good!!!
What is that title from? Isn’t that from something else? It sounds so familiar.
I enjoyed this.
@BooksForMe -
I was wondering if someone would guess it!!
It is from Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers. Pippin is trying to convince Treebeard to travel south, and it goes something like this:
Pippin: Take us south!
Treebeard: South? But that would take us by Isengard . . .
Pippin: Yes, that’s right. The closer we are to danger, the farther we are from harm. It’s the last thing he’ll expect.
Treebeard: That doesn’t make very much sense to me. But then again, you are very small.
Oh, YES! Thank you for telling me. It would have made me crazy trying to remember. Love the post even more now!