My Daughter’s Evil Toy

Two weeks ago, my daughter was playing with her “Skip-it” – a simple looking toy that has a ball connected by a rope to a small hoop.

The hoop goes around your foot. The objective is to swing the ball around in a circular motion and jump over it with your free foot… kinda like jumping over a helicopter blade.

The toy is pink and cute and innocent looking.

It’s also evil.

A few seconds into her playing with the Skip-it, I hear screams. My wife runs outside. Soon, she is carrying our daughter, who has bloody hands and knees, inside.

What happened? She landed on the ball (instead of jumping over it) and fell face-down on the driveway.

A couple of days ago, my daughter has the Skip-it out again. She does a few rounds successfully… and a neighbor girl walks up. The neighbor asks if she can try.

Can you guess what happened?

Yup. Same story all over again. The neighbor girl does a face-plant in our driveway. Screams. Blood. Loose teeth…

Lame!

Now I’m mad. Not at my daughter or the other girl. I’m mad at that stupid toy.

I tell my daughter that I think we should throw the evil Skip-it away. She cries.

I explain: I don’t want her to get injured anymore / I don’t want neighbor kids to get injured anymore / when I was a kid, we had a neighborhood slip-n-slide… until a neighbor kid was rushed off in an ambulance because of a neck injury that paralyzed him (temporarily) – we never had a slip-n-slide in our neighborhood again.

My explanation and story helped. She agreed to throw the Skip-it away. We went to the garage and threw it in the trash can together…

…then I told my daughter, “I think I need to take you shopping for a new toy this week.” She lit up like a Christmas tree. Rejoicing. Jumping. Cheers. Grins….

I took her shopping last night and got her a new toy (one that isn’t evil and won’t cause bodily harm). I don’t think she’s missing the Skip-it anymore.

Similarly… God loves his kids.

He is not mad at us. He doesn’t like the “evil toys” that cause us harm.

Trust Him.

Letting go of the bad stuff can be difficult.

Go ahead, do it anyway.

See what God does in your life.

Every good and perfect gift comes from Him.

God doesn’t empty your life of good things; He fills your life with good things!

“The thief’s purpose is to steal and kill and destroy. My purpose is to give them a rich and satisfying life.” – Jesus (John 10.10)