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Pabulum Day

Pabulum Day

By Robyn Roste
 

 
There are 15 months separating me from my younger brother, Joel. As a result of our close kinship, sharing was something of the norm for us—like school classrooms, friends, and punishments.

Yes, punishments. You know the saying, “Siblings who scheme together, suffer together?” Well, it seemed this was my lot in life, to get caught up in ridiculous boy schemes and then get caught. At least, this was my story until I discovered my brother could be set up to take the fall, which was a lot less painful for me. Joel had the unfortunate evil gleam in his eye, while I had the wide-eyed innocent look, so it was easy to plot and gloat. That is, until my parents caught on. It happened like this:

We were in our backyard playing. Joel was building an active gravel pit in the sandbox and I was cooking under the balcony. Everything was fine until our youngest brother Jordie toddled out to wreck our fun. So I set my plan into action.

“Hey Joel, I'm cooking pabulum, you should give some to Jordie to eat.”

“OK. Here Jordie, it's time to eat. Have some pabulum.”

Unfortunately, despite the fact it was Joel who made Jordie eat the leaves, mud, grass, and other yard debris, I was ultimately labelled Mastermind and punished accordingly.

As my dad brought me inside I immediately panicked and started screaming, absolutely terrified that my perfect plotting was undone and I was going to pay dearly for it. I tried everything: “I didn't do anything! It wasn't me! Joel fed it to him! Jordie should know better than to eat dirt!”

I became more and more worked up until I was hiccupping and gasping for air. I don't know how long I was sat on my dad's lap having an absolute meltdown but eventually I realized I hadn't been punished yet—and my dad was looking at me not with an angry expression, but a sorrowful one. I then wondered if I could get out of trouble altogether, so I cried a little feebler.

It didn't work.

That day, Pabulum Day, sticks out as particularly important because I saw something in my dad I hadn't noticed before—compassion. He didn't want to punish me any more than I wanted him to, but he did because he loved me and wanted to teach me to be good. Hebrews 12:5-6 says “My child, don't ignore it when the Lord disciplines you, and don't be discouraged when he corrects you. For the Lord disciplines those he loves, and he punishes those he accepts as his children” (NLT). Pabulum Day makes this passage come alive for me. The Lord, like my dad, just wants me to grow up right.

When I think of God as my Father, experiences like this come to mind. I understand concepts like compassion, grace, unconditional love, and justice because my father models them. And I wonder how I would know these things about God if I didn't have a godly father.

Unfortunately, the analogy breaks down when I look at this world around me. I know my dad, and all other fathers, are only human and thus sinful. If I were to only look at them to shape how I see God, it would be discouraging and distorted.

In his message, “The Love of God,” Chuck Swindoll warns against basing our idea of God on earthly experiences. “If we shape our thinking about God from the culture around us, our life will remain complicated and even become chaotic. But if we allow Holy Scripture to shape our thinking, God will emerge in our minds as He is: real, personal, meaningful, all-powerful. What we think about God is the most important thing about us.”1 What we think about God shapes our hearts, minds, and actions.

Seeing God's love demonstrated in my dad was how I learned to relate to God. But it wouldn't be enough to leave it there. In order for my relationship with God to be living and active, I had to learn for myself what the Bible said about Him, and allow the Holy Spirit to shape my thinking of who He really is. Having an imperfect dad does not make God less perfect (Matthew 5:48), and just because perfect love doesn't exist on earth, it does not change the fact that God's love is perfect and He is my heavenly Father (1 John 4:7-8).

Two decades after Pabulum Day I can say I'm past feeding my brothers dirt and dreaming up ways to get them in trouble. I've also grown past trying to dodge the consequences of my actions. The concepts first introduced by my dad have taken root and become foundations for my life. And you know what? I think I'm growing up right.

1Copyright 1998, The Love of God from the How Great is our God series
 

About the Author:  Robyn Roste


 
Robyn Roste