I WANT THE REAL ONE!

We were leaving the house; me, my four year old daughter, and my seven year old son.
The leaving-the-house ritual ensues. You might have one of your own. Ours looks like this. I bark orders that sound something like, “Quickly, get your shoes on! Don’t just stand there. Grab your coat, its cold outside.”
Yet, in the midst of the chaos time stands still as I watch my children respond to my orders. As my daughter looked for her shoes in the closet, I hear her say, “where are my croqs? “I don’t want those,” she says to her brother. “I want the real ones!”
You see, like every good thrifty mother, I purchased the knock off brand of imitation croqs for my children. Kids grow out of their shoes so fast. My wallet hurts at the prospect of paying high dollar for shoes that become too small before they are well used. Both of my children continued to ask me for Croqs despite having a perfectly good imitation. Once again, like every good thrifty mother I looked for Croqs that were on sale; I never found them on sale.
One day while my husband and I were Christmas shopping, my husband finds both a pink and blue pair of Croqs at full price. It is Christmas after all so we splurge on two pairs of full-priced Croq’s. You can imagine the delight on their faces when they unwrap their gift and open their shoe box on Christmas morning. Finally, the real deal! They never thought it would happen, but their Croq dream became a reality!
As I stood watching this scene with my daughter, I thought to myself, “We are wired for the real thing.” My daughter is four years old. She has no brand sense yet. I, with my thrifty nature have obviously not taught her about name brands. How does she know the difference between a Croq and its imitation and more importantly, why does she care?
We are wired for the real thing. No imitation will satisfy. The void in our souls can only be filled with God; the one true God. The bible says, you are God, there is no other. You are God, there is none like you.
I tried for many years to fill the void in my soul. I chased new age religions like Eckankar and I studied self improvement techniques from men such as Tony Robbins. These methods provide temporary relief. They are a band-aid on a wound that never heals. For years my soul cried out, “I don’t want those. I want the real one!”
I have found the real One in Jesus and because we are wired for the real thing, no imitation will do. Stop shopping for an imitation. No need to be thrifty, Jesus is a free gift.

Blessings,

Theresa