Poop and Potential

Every morning it is my privilege to enter little Willow’s room to give her a good morning kiss and hug and to see her sleepy, sweet eyes light up when I enter the room.

And nearly every morning the same smell and the same words greet me as I enter her domain. “Poo Poo,” she declares, pointing to her itsy bum. And the smell pervading the room affirms her assertion.

For some reason this morning, I was talking Baby Smack to her as I changed her diaper for the eleventy-billionth time. Now, Baby Smack by its very nature does not need to make sense, and so it frequently does not. I said something like, “Oh Piper – you are loaded with poop and loaded with potential.” I don’t know what I meant or what I was saying. (It was early and poop is not a welcome wake up call.)

But as I wiped off her filthy bum, I started to think that maybe what I said was sort of profound. God loads us all with potential and we pretty much cover it up with poop. Usually loads of it. Messy, smelly, disgusting poop that emerges from our own rear ends. And it isn’t until that degrading, offensive load is cleared off that we can even begin to see the potential God has planned.

I know that I am sick and tired of poop. And I imagine God feels the same way about our lives, when He sees what a mess we make of things.