Fill In The Blank

My aunt was the giver of good gifts.
They were not expensive gifts.
They were often found at the Dollar Store.
My children loved them.

I remember the baby doll that my aunt bought for my oldest daughter.
I was ready to deliver our second child.
My aunt wanted our oldest daughter to have a baby of her own.
The baby doll came with her own bathtub, washcloth, pretend soap, and bottle.

That Dollar Store baby doll was well loved.
She was given the name, Baby Susan.
She was bathed when the new baby was bathed; she was fed when the new baby was fed.
She was the doll of choice.

Eventually, she was kept in the garage with the outside toys.
She had a permanent place in the play shopping cart that was next to the Little Tykes car.
She went on outings in the back of the Flintstones-type car that was propelled by little feet.
She fell in the mulch, got dirty, and never seemed to wear anything but a pretend diaper.

She brought hours of fun to my children and others who played with her.
My aunt was the giver of good gifts.
Occasionally, my aunt got carried away.
She bought a pretend vacuum so my oldest daughter could play house.

As soon as my daughter was given the gift, my aunt turned on the vacuum.
The batteries that she had already inserted gave the vacuum a realistic sound.
In fact, it was a bit too realistic.
The vacuum was quite loud and my daughter wanted to turn it off.

My aunt was never married and never had children of her own.
To her, a noisy vacuum was a great gift.
To my daughter and anyone else within earshot, it was not so great.
We took the batteries out of the vacuum and my daughter played with it for hours.

My aunt never seemed to understand.
To her, battery powered meant lots of fun.
To my children, battery powered meant playing with something only one way.
Without the batteries, their imagination soared.

That’s how I coined the phrase.
I would put each of their names in front of the word, powered.
This hyphenated word now became the go-to statement.
The toy had to be ____-powered.

They loved to say that their toys were powered by them.
They loved to imagine all sorts of things, which often meant their ideas were out of the box.
They loved the freedom to play with something in a million different ways.
Batteries seem to restrict them a bit.

They never asked for toys other than the kind they could power themselves.
Consequently, old-fashioned toys were the order of the day.
A refrigerator box would keep them entertained for days.
Outside play was the top of their list of things to do.

I thought about that the other day when I passed something in the store.
As I walked down an aisle, a large action figure spoke to me and made laser sounds.
It must have had a motion detector.
It actually caught me off guard and scared me a bit as I passed by.

How can this toy be fun? I asked myself.
I got closer for further inspection.
The words that the action figure said changed, but other than that it did not do much else.
The large, child-sized action figure cost almost $100.

What was the point?
Battery powered for sure, I said under my breath.
I thought of our coined phrase.
The toys that were the most fun were ______-powered.

In this electronic age, toys without batteries are rare.
In this electronic age, solitary play is the norm.
Everything comes with a power cord it seems.
Everything is tethered to an electric outlet at one time or another.

Battery powered is the order of the day.
______-powered is quite rare.
Parents have to be very intentional to choose the latter over the former.
However, when they do, the benefits are enormous.

But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth. (Acts 1:8)

______-powered is quite rare these days.
There is another kind of power.
Holy Spirit power.
The Holy Spirit fills in the blank perfectly.

Unlike a battery that needs recharging, the Holy Spirit is given once and keeps on going.
The Holy Spirit is given when we trust in Jesus alone for our salvation.
We never lose the Holy Spirit’s presence in our lives.
Holy Spirit powered allows us to be faithful witnesses to the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

If, as witnesses, we fill in the blank in our own strength, we will fail.
That blank needs to be filled with the Holy Spirit.
Only then will our testimony be effective and our service true.
The Holy Spirit is the only appropriate blank filler.

Holy Spirit powered.
Nothing is done in our own strength.
The Holy Spirit’s power works through us all to God’s glory.
No batteries or cords are necessary.

God provides the power source.
His power never goes out.
His power never needs recharging.
The Holy Spirit fills in the blank perfectly.