“We’re stuck with each other – like glue. We’re five. We’re twins!”
So it was that I first met Clete and Pete, the “deconstruction team” of the church playground. If you wanted (or didn’t) something taken apart, they were your guys. Now, I didn’t say it would ever go back together the same way again, but they were a good deconstruction team.
A couple of years went by before I saw them again. Not sure which I was addressing, I simply resorted to a greeting of “Hey!” as one of them came barreling out the church doors one afternoon.
Used to such confusion, the now much taller boy smiled. “Hey! I remember you. I’m Pete. You used to tell on us for fixing the playground stuff. You lived on the corner, right?”
I nodded, and he continued almost without drawing a breath. “Well, Clete’s here somewhere. We’re stuck with each other!”
It was then I noticed something different. Pete was looking at me with his head turned strangely to the right, focusing on me with his left eye. He smiled, and I was immediately embarrassed as I became aware that I was probably giving him an unusual look.
“Hey! Here comes Clete now!” And sure enough, Clete came barreling out the church doors. Clete’s head was tipped strangely to the left, as if he was looking solely out of his right eye.
“Hey! I remember you. You’re the tattle-tale lady from when we were little. Well, we’re still stuck with each other. We’re still twins, and now we’re eight!”
Clete grinned at his brother as if silently asking him, “should we tell her?”
Pete nodded, and Clete went on. “You know, we’ve been together from the beginning. We shared everything. Now we’re sharing eyes. See, both mine went bad, some disease or something, so Pete gave me one of his. Now we’re really stuck together!”
Pete playfully punched his brother in the arm. “Yep, I’ve got the left eye and he’s got the right. Together, we’ve got whole sight!”
He grinned as only an eight year old getting permanent teeth can. Then, he winked his left eye, and Clete immediately winked his right. Almost in unison, they said “And they still call us the deconstructors!” And off down the sidewalk they ran.
Pete and Clete (bet you can’t say their names 10 times fast) were indeed together from their beginnings. They needed each other for complete sight, to have complete vision.
So, it was with the living word and God. All things – all sight, all vision, all reality, all creation – came into being through the word.
John 1:1-3 tells us: In the beginning was the word, and the word was with God, and the word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things came into being through him, and without him not one thing came into being.
Let’s think about what it means to be “stuck like glue” with our creator. When our sight seems nonexistent, we call on God to give us sight, give us understanding and give us direction. With God, our sight is as complete as humanly possible.
In the grace filled gift that was Jesus, God gave us an incredible gift of eternal sight. When our sight was gone, when humankind could no longer see the vision of creation’s purpose, this living word became human and came among us.
God, in Jesus, committed to being “stuck like glue” to us. How often do we use the grace-filled sight this holy commitment grants us? If someone were to look at your life, who and/or what would they think you’re “stuck like glue” to?
Each day, may you find yourself “stuck like glue” more completely and securely to the one who created you.