“Mr. Owl, how many licks does it take to get to the Tootsie Roll center of a Tootsie Pop?”
“Well, let’s see…”
I was clearing thru some old files in my office recently, and the memories came flooding back.
Hard decisions, some public, some handled and then buried….good decisions that no one truly understood….and the amazing love and generosity of others.
As referenced before, I work for a non profit organization. The generosity of others is often our life’s blood. Some of our donors go to great lengths to ensure that very few ever know what they have done. “Never let your left hand know what your right hand’s doing”; I think that’s how the saying goes.
How many people have prayed for a million dollars? How many people have prayed for $3 million? How many people prayed for a pot of money and really ever expected to get it? It has been over 10 years since the events unfolded, but I will confess to being in these categories. Times were tough for our organization. We had plans, we had backup plans, and we had parachutes. It seemed as if the plane was going down, and plans A, B, and C had fallen through. We were past the point of anyone parachuting to safety. Finally, I chose to begin my pre dawn arrival at the office on my knees, head down in the desk chair. “God, we need a lot of money, and we need it very soon…”.
The prayer ended shortly thereafter, and the day began. There were conversations, there were phone calls, and there were visits. What was once viewed as a distant relationship, an old friendship, years removed and separated by hundreds of miles parlayed itself into $3 million arriving in our organization’s account within 10 days.
True story. Even truer are the words penned many years ago by William Cowper:
God moves in a mysterious way
His wonders to perform;
He plants His footsteps in the sea
And rides upon the storm.
Deep in unfathomable mines
Of never failing skill
He treasures up His bright designs
And works His sov’reign will.
Ye fearful saints, fresh courage take;
The clouds ye so much dread
Are big with mercy and shall break
In blessings on your head.
Judge not the Lord by feeble sense,
But trust Him for His grace;
Behind a frowning providence
He hides a smiling face.
His purposes will ripen fast,
Unfolding every hour;
The bud may have a bitter taste,
But sweet will be the flow’r.
Blind unbelief is sure to err
And scan His work in vain;
God is His own interpreter,
And He will make it plain.
So, how many licks does it take to get to the Tootsie Roll center of a Tootsie Pop?
Like many of the encounters and generous acts of the anonymous faithful, the world may never know.
