Bye Bye Blankie

Hudson has an attachment to his blankie -- two of them in fact! We started out with one, and then we bought an identical one "just in case." That one was supposed to be the spare for when the other was being washed or if it got lost. However, Hudson somehow found out there were two of them and captured them both at the same time. That was about two years ago, and now they have both been by his side at bedtime ever since.

Thankfully, he doesn't drag his blankie around the house or take it to preschool, but it is a definite necessity at bedtime. We've spent many hours looking for a lost blankie at bedtime, wishing we had a spare that was still hidden!

Lately, the blanket has seen better days. In fact, I don't think most people would recognize this long strand of fabric as a former blanket that was once a soft, satin rectangle, embroidered with the saying, "Go barefoot and follow your dreams." The letters have long fallen off, in pieces, the edges have come unraveled, and the interior batting has come out. Now, it just looks like scrap fabric that is matted and frayed.

Recently, we have gotten rid of one of the two blankets. It just "disappeared" one night, never to be found again. We are down to one, original blankie that Hudson declares is the best, sweetest smelling, softest thing in the world! We've offered to buy him a brand new, fresh, in-tact blanket that is just like this one (minus the holes, stains, odors, dampness, and missing batting). That was not an acceptable solution, as Hudson declared, "I like the holes!"

Hudson's desire to hold onto this old, torn, and tattered blanket made me think about how we often do that too. We frequently hold onto things in our lives that God wants us to give up or change because we like the comfort of the familiar. Hudson's blanket is comfortable; it has a history to him. But it doesn't mean that it's the very best thing that's out there! He is turning down a better blanket for an item which is worn out and tattered. Likewise, we are limiting God when we try to hold on with tight fists to our stuff, our jobs, our houses, our community, or any other item that we fear losing. God often has bigger and better things that He wants us to experience, if we could only let go and trust Him. If we could only see that there was a better "blankie" out there, or that maybe we really don't need the "blankie" after all.