2016-06-30
I heard a phrase today that I hadn't heard in a long time.

"Kiss it up to God!"

When we were children and we dropped a piece of candy on the ground, someone would say, "Just kiss it up to God." Supposedly that would wash away all of the germs and dirt and make it safe to eat.

Now I must admit that I'm not exactly sure if it was our faith in God that called us to do that or the fact that we weren't going to waste a perfectly good piece of candy. But whatever it was it helped us to believe that a kiss would make it all better.

It was a young child who reminded me of that today. She had been walking with her Mom hand in hand in the local mall. Mom stopped suddenly and sat down next to me on the bench. The young girl dropped her big lollipop on the floor. Now I must tell you even I would have washed that lollipop. But quicker than Mom could say, "Honey don't!", the young girl yelled "Kiss it up to God," and popped in back in her mouth.

Okay, so my faith these days says that God would protect her in spite of all the dirt and dust that stuck to that thing.

"Honey, you shouldn't have done that," Mom said.

"But Mom you told me that's what you always said when you were a kid," the child replied.

"Yes, that's because I believed that God could make everything better if I just believed. But you should have washed that first."

"But God took care of it, right?" the child said with a look of concern.

"Yes, honey. I'm sure he did. God takes care of everything," Mom assured her.

"Well then why did my fishy die this morning? Should we have kissed him up to God, too?" she asked.

"Well..." Mom had to think about this one. This was an important moment between a parent and child.

"Honey, God kissed him up and made him all better by taking him home," Mom said with some relief and satisfaction.

"God kissed him up to God?"

"Well, yes. Then he made him better and kept him."

The young child stood there thinking for a moment while Mom tried her best to clean off the lollipop.

Then with all the logic and innocence of a young child her daughter said, "Well, then I'm glad I did it so fast. He's not getting my lollipop!"

Mom, a bit stunned at first looked up at me and we both started laughing.

I believe God smiled at that one.
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