New Glasses

A couple months ago, as I was “risking it all” (read: taking a shower while my kids were awake), I heard my daughter say, “I didn’t mean to, Mommy.”  As I emerged from the shower, my trepidation was confirmed.  My daughter held in her hand my broken glasses.

Now, my prescription was almost two years old, my lenses were scratched, and I had been planning on going in for an eye exam soon.  However, she forced the issue, and in a big way.  For me, eye exams and new glasses and contacts run about $500.00, and my husband and I had just had to make a major car repair.

All these things were running through my mind as I was trying to decide how to react to my two-and-a-half-year-old daughter.  As I looked over at her, not quite sure how to express my frustration and disappointment, she climbed off the toilet and ran into my bedroom.  Curious, I followed her.  She reached onto my dresser and grabbed…my glasses repair kit.  “Here, Mommy, I’ll help you fix them.  You can do it.”  She realized, without me saying anything, that she had done something big, something that needed to be fixed immediately.

This situation has had me thinking.  Life for us as sinners is like that quite a lot.  We do something, something big, that needs to be fixed right away.  And we say, “Here, God, let me help you fix it.”  And so we try to make amends for whatever action we have taken.  And we keep trying and doing, wanting the guilt to go away.  And yet, it doesn’t.  So, what are we to do?

The truth is, there really isn’t anything that we can do.  God has done it all for us.  He forgives us and completely blots out the memory, the stain, of our sin.  Instead of trying to fix our problems, we need to let God wipe them away.

For my birthday, two days after my daughter broke my glasses, I got to spend $500 on new glasses and contacts.  And, for the last two months, my daughter has occasionally looked at me and said, “Mamma, you have new glasses.  Why?”  When I respond by asking, “Why do I have new glasses?” she looks at me and says, “I broke your old ones.  I’m sorry, Mamma.”  I always assure her that I have forgiven her, and Jesus has, too.  And while I don’t want her to break my glasses again, I pray that she is able to let go of her sin and trust that I won’t remember her sin forever.