The Candy Dispenser

When I was a little girl I liked to put money in the gumball machine.
There was something about putting the coin in the slot and turning the handle.
All the colored gumballs were there behind the glass.
The anticipation of just the right color coming down was the best part.

I would lift the little metal door and the gumball would drop into my hand.
Unless it dropped on the floor.
Then it was necessary to try again.
I would put the coin in the slot, turn the handle, and the gumball would fall.

I didn’t even like candy.
But I did like bubble gum.
I tried to be an expert at blowing the perfect bubble.
That was one skill I never could master.

Gumball machines are not usually the everyday fare in our homes.
Unless you have an M&M dispenser.
I do have one of those.
I have it sitting on my island in the kitchen.

Everyone likes to sit in front of the M&M dispenser.
Conversation and fellowship happens around the kitchen island.
Board games have been played there.
Homework has been done there.

My candy dispenser is an improvisation.
My candy dispenser is really a chicken feeder.
It has a metal base with eight holes around the circumference.
A glass Ball jar is inverted on top of the metal base.

I buy my candy dispensers at a local Farm and Feed store.
I wash the metal base thoroughly before the candy ever touches it.
The M&M bag is opened and I pour the contents into the glass jar.
I secure the metal base on the jar like a lid.

Then I turn the jar over and all of the M&M’s fall to the bottom.
They fill the metal base with the rest making a swirl of colors in the jar above.
People sit at the kitchen island and reach for a few M&M’s.
They can never eat just one.

I watch the candy level diminish during a board game.
I always have a spare bag of candy in the pantry, ready to refill at a moment’s notice.
You can only eat a few at a time since the holes are too small for you to grab more.
The candy dispenser is a conversation piece.

When my youngest daughter took piano lessons, she gave a candy dispenser as a gift.
She proudly brought the gift bag into her teacher’s home at Christmas time.
We had wrapped up a large bag of M&M’s and included it with the dispenser.
I remember her face when she came back outside after her piano lesson.

Mom, she isn’t going to use it for candy, she said terribly dejected.
She asked me if it was OK if she put it on her deck for the birds.
She wants to fill it with birdseed!
I tried to explain that her teacher was actually using her gift the correct way.

It really is a chicken feeder, I tried to tell her.
I am just using the chicken feeder for our M&M’s.
She looked disappointed.
To her, it was a candy dispenser and nothing would change that fact.

I have given this bit of whimsy as a gift a few times.
Everyone else has used it as a candy dispenser.
I explained to my young daughter that once you give a gift, it is out of your hands.
The person will either use it or not use it; the person will either like it or not like it.

The giver gives.
The receiver receives.
The giver is not responsible for the receiver’s reaction.
The acceptance or rejection of the gift is out of the giver’s hand.

For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. (Romans 6:23)

God gives the gift of eternal life.
It is nothing we can earn on our own.
It is nothing we can secure on our own.
Like my candy dispenser, it can be received or rejected.

You can sit at my kitchen island and choose which color M&M you want to eat.
You can try to grab the reds or the blues and leave the rest in the metal base.
It is a lot of work to try to find just the right color.
It is a struggle that is often unsuccessful.

The gift is there for the taking.
In its entirety, the gift sits before you.
You can receive it or reject it.
However, the gift remains the same.

Imagine the disappointment when my daughter gave the gift and it was rejected.
Imagine how God must feel.
Jesus came and taught about the Kingdom of God.
Jesus came as a Gift that the Giver so freely gave to us.

Many complained.
Many wanted to change the Gift to suit their own preference.
Many tried to pick and choose how they would receive the Gift.
Many tried to use the Gift for another purpose.

God’s Gift cannot be manipulated.
God’s Gift cannot be changed.
God’s Gift, much like the M&M’s in my dispenser, is enjoyed one person at a time.
God’s Gift is not an improvisation; God’s gift is the real thing.

Many try to work too hard to secure the Gift.
Many struggle unsuccessfully to make God’s Gift be something it is not.
In its entirety, God’s Gift is there before us.
How gracious the Gift Giver, how wondrous the Gift.

Do you see it there before you?
It is within reach.
Have you received God’s Gift, the Gift of His Son, Jesus?
Are you ready to start a conversation about God’s Gift, one person at a time?