Dear Lord, can you clear up my acne?

an inspirational parable

I dreamed I was walking along a beautiful beach bathed in the glorious hues of a glorious sunset. Behind me stretched footprints, far back through all the stages of my life. Two sets, mine and the Lord's.

Except in a few places.

Jesus, ambling beside me, stopped to skip a stone on the placid, tranquil sea. He sidled on over when he saw a frown cross my face.

"What's up?"

"Nothin."

"No, really. Someone pour salt in your coffee?"

I couldn't help but laugh. I sighed, and reluctantly told him what I had figured out. As far as I could tell, at whatever point in my life I had broken out in zits, the two sets of footprints became one.

"Oh," said Jesus. "I was hoping you wouldn't notice that."

"You mean...."

"Yeah," Jesus said, digging a little trench in the sand with His left foot.

My eyes welled up with tears. "I prayed and prayed for you to eradicate every pimple that plagued me from middle school to high school," I said. "'Dear Lord, can you clear up my acne?' Every night for six years!"

"I know," said Jesus.

"And you left me just like that, to wallow in my adolescent misery and shame?"

"You've got it all wrong," Jesus replied, kicking sand back into the trench. "That was when I threw you out into the water. You needed a bath, is all."




[seventy-third in a series]