Wacky Rubber Bands

If you don’t have children or work with them, then you might not know about a new craze, wacky rubber bands.  Simply put, they are rubber bands.  They are not, however, the rubber bands that we grew up with.  No, no.  Instead of being mostly tan in color and pretty much round or oval shaped when not stretched, wacky rubber bands come in every color and shape imaginable.  These wacky rubber bands are made so that they retain their original shape when they are not stretched.  That ‘shape’ could be literally anything - a fruit, a religious symbol, a word, a tool, a truck, a boat, an action or cartoon figure.  Anything.

Somewhere along the line my 4-year-old grandson Brett was introduced to them.  Probably by his parents.  One day he came to our house and he had his wrist loaded with all kinds of them.  Then, in a spirit of love and sharing, he insisted that I have a couple to wear.  OK, more than a couple.  Eight of them.  So I started wearing them on my wrist everyday.  Now normally I wouldn’t do anything like this but it’s surprising what one will do for his/her grandchildren!  So I wear them when I’m home, when I’m at church, when I play softball, wherever I go.  In fact, my particular wacky rubber bands have gone international!  I wore then back in March when I went to El Salvador and Guatemala.  My favorite one is of Shrek, the green ogre.

As I periodically look at those wacky bands on my wrist, who do you suppose I think of?  My grandson Brett.  I also think about the love that he has for me, which is why he shared them with me in the first place.

In the Christian life, the cross is the equivalent of my wacky rubber bands.  (I'm certainly not trying to demean the significance of the cross!)  What I mean is that the cross is also a symbol.  Whenever we see it - whether it’s in or on a church, in a book, on a necklace that we wear, wherever - we immediately think of Jesus.  We also think about the love that He has for us, the love that motivated Him to die a horrible death on the cross so that we could have eternal life.  Talk about love, this is it!  Only the love of God could turn a horrible symbol of torture and death into a symbol of love and grace!

Lord, thank you for the symbol of the cross and what it represents, Your great love for us.  Help us never to take it for granted or fail to be moved by it.  Instead help it to be a constant reminder of the incredible price that was paid to reconcile us and the world to You.  In Jesus’ name, Amen.