Fingernails, and God Chuckling

Three EXCITING (and quick) announcements (then a story about fingernails):

1) I met Matt Mikalatos this week (in the cyber sense) and read his book Imaginary Jesus

2) a review of his book is upcoming, as is a guest post by Matt – stay tuned for the details on that

3) Anyone who shares any of this week’s posts on Facebook, or Twitter, or starts following me on Twitter (@shawnsmucker) this week, or shares a link to this post pretty much anywhere except in the men’s bathroom stall at the Lancaster Border’s, will gain entrance to win a free copy of Matt’s book Imaginary Jesus (no, not the copy he gave me; I’m keeping that one thank you very much).  Each time you share gets you an additional entry to win the book, so go wild (and comment somewhere on what you’ve done so that I can keep track).

So, anyway . . . now for my random thoughts on fingernails and God chuckling at me.

Maile was trying to cut Samuel’s finger nails on Saturday night – you know, the little guy whose naming became my responsibility?  He is almost 10 months old and loves to tear us (and himself) apart with those Wolverine-like razors.  His finger nails grow faster than Pinochio’s nose at a presidential debate.

And he hates having them cut.  You would think Maile was cutting off his actual fingers – which it becomes very difficult NOT to do, with all the squirming and flailing and rolling involved.

I was thinking to myself, man, Sam, just sit STILL for a second, will you?  Getting those fingernails shortened is not going to kill you – in fact, it’s going to keep you from scratching yourself the way you always do.  It’s going to keep you from hurting yourself.  And me, too.

Then, somewhere not too far away, I heard God chuckling to himself.

What’s so funny? I asked.  Then he asked me a question.  He always answers my questions with questions.

He asked me why I squirm around so much when he’s trying to take off my sharp edges. 

I don’t know, I said.  Probably because I’m scared you’ll hurt me.  Or maybe I like using those sharp things as weapons to defend myself.

That’s interesting, he said.  But you know, it wouldn’t hurt you to just be still sometimes.  And trust me.