By Joy Adams
This past winter, my six year old son, Jeremiah was playing in our community’s communal grassy area. After just a few minutes of playing he ran up to me overflowing with excitement. He had found a fidget spinner and he was confident that God had placed it there in the grass, just for him. My husband and I tend to shy away from current trends, partially because we are just not that hip, and also because we want to teach our boys that fullness of life has nothing to do with the latest gadget or fad toy. In this regard, we had often seen our son enjoying playing with fidget spinners while on play-dates, however had not realized that to him, they were really something special and had nothing to do with fads. Apparently, God knew, what we did not.
After showing it to the neighborhood children and none of them laying claim to it, Jeremiah was all the more confident that God had brought it to him. For the next several days, weeks, and beyond Jeremiah carried that fidget spinner close at hand almost everywhere we went, always letting people know that God had given it to him. When he did not have it on him, he stored it in his sock drawer, like a treasure kept in a sacred vault.
Months later, after picking Jeremiah up from school, I had taken the boys to Costco to do our grocery shopping. It was the beginning of our pay period, so my list was long and we made our way up and down the aisles, covering most of the warehouse. After checkout we stopped at the bathroom, then stopped for a hot dog, then back to the bathroom, then back to the food court to finish our hot dogs and then finally loaded up the car and headed home. I was exhausted. Shopping had taken longer than I had hoped, and we all just wanted to be home.
Soon after getting on the freeway, headed for home, Jeremiah let out a cry of panic and distress: “Mom, I cannot find my fidget spinner!” After having him check his pockets and all around his seat and even checking my purse, it was clear that the fidget spinner was not in the car. “Where did you last have it?” I asked. His reply: “Costco.” Oh, boy! Talk about finding a needle in a hay stack. I quickly assessed in my mind the chances of finding the lost fidget spinner weighted that with my exhaustion from the day and I began trying to offer words of comfort to my very distraught little boy. “It is okay, honey, sometimes in life we lose toys or they get broken.” “You are going to be okay, it’s not so bad, you have money in your bank at home, you can by a new one.” My attempt to comfort, only made things worse. It was evident that my son was experiencing true grief over the loss of this fidget spinner. To him, it was as though that fidget spinner was a beloved member of our family that was totally irreplaceable.
My heart broke for my son and for the pain of loss that he was experiencing. I did the only thing I could do and that was get off the freeway, turn the car around and head back to Costco. All the while, trying to prepare Jeremiah to accept the loss I felt was inevitable. We were on an impossible task. As I get the car back on the freeway Jeremiah says “Mom, Pray.” I begin to pray that God will bring comfort to my son and help to restore his peace when he interrupts me and says “Mom, you are praying the wrong way. God knows where it is, ask God to give it back to me.” I invited Jeremiah to join me in prayer and we prayed as Jeremiah’s faith boldly led the way asking for the immediate return of his fidget spinner.
Thanks to Bay Area rush hour traffic, almost an hour after leaving Costco, we reentered Costco on a mission to back track, if necessary, through the entire store.
Less than a minute into our mission, Jeremiah had his beloved fidget spinner in hand. We realized that he must have set it on the first table we had sat at in the food court and in our rush to get to the bathroom it had been left behind. Returning to the food court, after going to the bathroom, our original table was occupied and we ended up finishing our meal at a different table. Finding the fidget spinner, at that table over an hour after we had sat there was a miracle.
As far as fidget spinner go, to anyone other than Jeremiah, it would seem insignificant. Its design is smaller and simpler than most fidget spinners. The staff member who had wiped clean the table at least once in our absence could have easily felt justified in just tossing it in the trash without a second thought, but they didn’t. Jeremiah left Costco that day with evidence in his hand that God does indeed hear our prayers and answer them. I left Costco that day, with a renewed knowledge of how much God truly cares about us and the things we care about.
A year later, Jeremiah still recalls how God returned to him his fidget spinner. He often uses this memory as a statement of faith when encouraging our family to pray for something or when explaining to his younger brother just how big and loving God is.
These days, the fidget spinner stays closer to home and the safety of Jeremiah’s sock drawer. The testimony of the fidget spinner, however, is not hidden away, it is on full display in the growing faith of our son.
Jeremiah’s fidget spinner story reminds me that God truly does care for us and for the things we care for just as the Bible says:
In the day when I cried out, You answered me, And made me bold with strength in my soul.
Psalm 138:3 (NKJV)
Cast all your anxiety on Him because He cares for you
1 Peter 5:7 (NIV)
He will fulfill the desires of those who fear Him; He also will hear their cry and save them.
Psalm 145:19 (NKJV)
Today, I encourage you to put on childlike faith, to believe for the impossible, and to invite God to join you in even the simple joys and trails of life.
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Photo by Charles Deluvio 🇵🇭🇨🇦 on Unsplash
