Mother's Kisses

 

 

“Mom, I need a Band Aid!”  Elise said.

“What happened?”  Elaine asked her.

“I was running, and I scraped my foot and there’s blood in it!”  Elise said, her lip quivering.

“There’s actually blood inside everyone,” I said, pouring a little bit of my scientific knowledge out for the unwilling masses to hear.  “We only see it when we get scrapes and cuts.”

Elise didn’t seem consoled by my wisdom.  Knowledge may be power, but it lacks the ability to comfort the scraped shin or wounded knee.

“Do you want me to kiss it to make it better?”  Elaine asked. 

“No!”  Elise said.  “Kisses DO NOT make things better!  Only Band Aids make things better!”

With this in mind, we sent out a search party to look for a Band Aid in the jumble of odds and ends in the kitchen cabinet where we keep such things.  After its application to the abrasion, the patient seemed consoled and able to return to her regular activities.

I suppose there comes a time for each of us to grow up.  We put away childish things, like mother’s kisses, and move on to truly efficacious things like Band Aids and Mecurochrome and antibiotics.

It is this way in other areas of life as well.  Many reach an age where they have no use for faith.  Religion may be the opiate of the masses, but they will not willingly partake in any such thing and so they leave it behind to focus themselves on the grind of everyday life.

Believing in the unseen is simply too hard.

"It was by faith that Moses left the land of Egypt, not fearing the king’s anger. He kept right on going because he kept his eyes on the one who is invisible." (Hebrews 11:27)

Maybe it seems childish to keep faith.  It was just this child-like belief that kept Moses going as he led the Israelites out of Egypt and through the trials of the desert.

We persevere, not because we have grown up, but because we believe in something -- in Someone -- bigger than ourselves.  

Even grownups need someone to care for them in the bumps and scrapes of everyday life.  I am glad that I have a Heavenly Father who I can turn to, for His healing touch works better than any Band Aid ever could.