This week while driving along with my just-turned-six-year-old granddaughter, we were chatting about life. Yep, believe it or not, she and I engage in these kinds of deep discussions pretty often. I say she is an old soul, wise far beyond the number of candles on her birthday cake.
At some point in our chat about life I opined that much of life is beautiful and joyful, but mixed in are some sad times now and then. And from the back seat came this proclamation:
“Just like the jelly bean game, Nana! [referring to the silly Jelly Belly game, BeanBoozled] Sometimes you get the ‘smelly socks’ jelly bean and sometimes you get the tutti fruitti!” She continued, “But it’s ok if you get the smelly socks jelly bean if you can get the toothpaste jelly bean right after.”
What a perfectly succinct way to sum up the teeter-totter of life! Yes, life can indeed be punctuated with unsavory chapters that may appear out of nowhere, stinking up our lives when all we want are rainbows and lollipops. Suffering is not fun, period. Sometimes it seems that our time here on earth is spent battling one trial after another, leaving us exhausted and spent in our efforts to manage life’s minefield of smelly socks.
But just like that “toothpaste” jelly belly that has the power to wipe away any residue of stench from those “smelly socks” jelly bellies, God’s grace somehow swoops in to save the day. Armed with newfound purpose and resolve, we bounce back and begin anew to seek those awesome tutti fruittis of life.
I drove along the freeway grinning from ear to ear, feeling so blessed to have this little girl in the back seat who, at only six, is a wise sage who understands that life’s tutti fruitti moments are to be cherished, and that those smelly socks moments are just temporary irritations easily banished with a little Divine toothpaste.