It’s been a quiet day in Leominster, Massachusetts. The sun drifted across the sky warming the maples and birches to 75 breezy degrees. It was a day to go into the backyard with a salt shaker and pick vine ripened tomatoes. We don’t have any tomato plants but we do have a generous neighbor who says, “Come and help me. I have zillions of tomatoes.”
One of the things I don’t like about the 21st century is the lack of children playing outside. We loved summer evenings in the 40s and 50s when everyone’s yard was a playground for all the children to play hide and seek and to fill a mason jar with lightning bugs. Fortunately the ice cream truck still creeps through the neighborhood playing Turkey in the Straw. But I do miss hearing “Ally Ally in Free” echoing down the street.
After reading the Gospel of John in one sitting I have this gut feeling that our God is frustrated. I think He has an urge to say something that just will not work. Have you ever wanted to say something but just couldn’t get it out? Is there someone you love but every time you start to tell them the words get caught in your throat? In a new relationship who will be the first to say, “I love you”? What if you say it and the other person doesn’t say it back? Does it sort of just hang out there in no man’s land?
God has certainly been able to tell us He loves us. He not only said it, He demonstrated it for thirty some years. Jesus was a walking “I love you” card. So what is it that He wants to say but can’t? “Ally Ally in Free.”
Written by Roger Bothwell on August 18, 2014
Spring of Life, PO Box, St. Helena, CA 94574
Rogerbothwell.org