The Gift of a Clean Slate

December is the prime time for toy shopping. It's no surprise electronic devices are on the "Top 100 Toy List" once again this year. For children growing up in the 60's, 70's, and 80's, the "Etch a Sketch" was the closest thing to a tablet we could get our hands on. The bright red frame with two large white knobs at the bottom of each corner, is an immediately recognizable and iconic image. The design is brilliant in it's simplicity.

If you've lived in a cave your entire life, Etch a Sketch is a mechanical drawing device for kids. Twisting the two knobs on each corner, caused a stylus on the inside of the toy to displace aluminum powder on the light grey screen, which in turn caused lines to form.

Because one knob made the stylus move vertically and the other knob made the stylus move horizontally, creating diagonal lined works of art, was nearly impossible. Sitting alone in the floor as a kid, I was barely able to scratch out my name, let alone an image I would be proud enough to show to others. I created many messes, no masterpieces. Each letter of my name was attached to the next because it was impossible to move the stylus around without displacing the aluminum powder in the process.

A great design feature of the Etch a Sketch allowed the user to shake the red frame and start anew with a clean and fresh grey screen. The Latin term to describe this would be, "tabula rasa," or blank slate. If you were frustrated with an image or you made a mistake in your drawing, you could simply shake the Etch a Sketch and things would return to their perfect and unblemished state.

Fast forward a few decades since I was a kid sitting in the floor playing with an Etch a Sketch, and I'm now a 38 year old bald, overweight father trying to provide a nice Christmas for his three kids. Looking back on my life since my own childhood, I've made mistakes. Let me rephrase, I've made ALOT of mistakes. I would be embarrassed and ashamed to share all the things in life I've gotten wrong and made a mess of.

For a long time, I needed to do better, I needed to be better, but I didn't have the tools, or if I'm being brutally honest, the true desire to see that happen. Then my life was shaken up. God's whisper to me and the small mustard seed of personal desire to change that He placed within my heart, became an audible and exigent command to lead an exchanged life. God doesn't come into our lives in a small and insignificant way. He comes in with a vengeance and He shakes things up.

With the presence of God and the Holy Spirit, you talk differently, you act differently, you treat people differently, you spend your free time differently. Because I'm a stubborn slow learner, God had to grab me by my shoulders and vigorously shake away the mess that I was and say....Enough! Enough. You are making a mess, but I can give you a masterpiece.

You can be a better father, your children deserve that. You can be a better husband, your wife needs that. You can be a better man, I expect that.

Throughout time, we have sat at our Etch a Sketches and scribbled away trying to make something beautiful on our own. What we are left with, is a jumbled and selfish mess. God sent His Son to shake this world to its core and to wipe away the sin and blemishes of our brokenness. Christ placed His hands over ours, removed our fingers from the knobs and with the ultimate sacrifice of His own life, He shook away the mess. What He left in its place, is a tablua rasa, a beautiful blank slate.

Friends, we aren't expected to go it alone. We can't create the masterpiece that is God's will for our lives without Him. We can't earn or buy a fresh start. If you are willing and if you are ready this Christmas season...accept the greatest gift of all, the gift of a clean slate.

Much Love, Adam

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