Socks and Underwear

We celebrated my son's birthday recently at his Granny Barbara's house. She baked him a birthday cake, of course.

When he opened his present from her, among the thoughtful and needed items were socks and underwear. It reminded me of something from my own past and my own grandmother. Thank you Lord for our grandmothers. Happy birthday Jay!

SOCKS AND UNDERWEAR

When I was growing up, every year at Christmas I could depend on my grandmother to give me the same gift under the tree. Yep, you guessed it, socks and underwear. Now my grandmother did this for a very good reason. You see she was the one who washed my dirty socks and underwear. She was painfully aware of their condition. She observed the ground in dirt, and grime inflicted upon them by a small boy who arrived at her back door every afternoon, covered in a layer of dirt and in need of a bath. She stripped the grass stained, grimy garments from me and toiled in their cleaning and mending. She saw a critical need and she filled it, with practical, sensible, loving generosity, she filled it.

 I was looking for something else under that tree. I was looking for model airplanes and new shiny toy guns! I was coveting and craving a new bike, or maybe a Davy Crockett buckskin jacket with fringes on the sleeves. I did not need any of these things. They were not vital to my well-being, but I wanted them. I wanted them in the worst way. I was so spoiled that the idea of my basic needs not being automatically met was totally foreign to me. I was so self-assured of having everything that I needed that my youthful mentality had moved to the next logical step, that of needing what I wanted.

I think that this is the level at which most of us operate in our lives. We don’t have to want what we need, because God has already provided for every possible need. So we seek gratification, and Satan, the great tempter, whispers to us, “What do you want? Why hasn’t your father given you what you want? Surely, you are entitled to more than you have!” And so we depart from God’s will, led away by Satan and our own greed.

How little we have changed since our childhood days. We are still disappointed by the gifts that we receive. We are still childishly impertinent towards God’s blessings, and God’s answer to our prayers. We are still children before God, in the real sense, so childish, so selfish and ignorant.

God constantly provides for our needs. Everyday, he puts food on our tables, and a roof over our head. He gives us work to do, and people to love us, and every good thing that we need. In return, we thank him half heartedly, like disappointed children. We were hoping for a bigger house, and a better paying job, maybe even a new boat like our neighbor has, or best of all… a winning lottery ticket! That would do it. That would be all that we need. We wouldn’t even need to bother God anymore after that.

Ask some lottery winners if they need God anymore. You might hear a few blind, ungrateful souls express their arrogance and independence from the helping hands of God. I think you would hear others express how much they realize the importance of God’s grace, now that they understand how inadequate money is for fulfilling their real needs. How quickly our lives would spiral downward, out of control, into darkness, without God’s grace. We are too ignorant even to know what our needs are, much less provide them for ourselves.

Little do we realize, minus God’s providence, how short the walk is from our plentiful lives, to impoverishment, real poverty, physically and spiritually. How, through a series of misfortunes, in a matter of weeks, or months, we could be in serious need of food and shelter. Suddenly, then, we would be appreciative of everything that we received, through the kindness of strangers, which is usually the kindness of God. Or how quickly we would stumble and fall, if left to our own feeble strength, and wisdom, in this cold, hard universe of malignant, lurking evil. We live oblivious to danger, like little children protected by a loving father, while wolves howl outside in the darkness. Don’t we know that angels watch over us? They guard us from the evil one, these vigilant, terribly beautiful creatures of God.

 His wisdom is what we should crave. His will is what we should seek. His loving grace provides us with everything that we need. Have you thanked God lately? Thank God for every blessing that you enjoy. Thank God for bread and butter, and a roof over your head, even if it leaks a little. Thank God for the gifts that he has given to you. Use them to please him. Use them to help others. Thank God for his forgiveness, and grace, and patience. Thank God for grandmothers, and families, and friends, and all of your loved ones. And don’t forget to thank God for socks and underwear.

 

 

                                                                                    M.J. Smith

                                                                                    January 25, 2005