The Psychology of Expectations

A few weeks ago we received a call early Sunday morning. My dad told Brian there was a snake in his driveway. He said it flicked its tongue at him when he touched it. He knew the boys would want to see it, so we hopped in the van and drove over there. I told Brian that it was probably Ben's toy snake that he had left over there the day before. My dad's degree was in zoology and he likes snakes, so Brian thought he would know the difference between a toy snake and a real one. We arrived at my dad's place, and looked at this black snake with yellow markings coiled up on the side of the driveway. I told Brian that Ben's snake was black with yellow markings, and that he had left it near the side of the driveway the day before. So Brian goes over and touches it. It doesn't move. Then all of sudden Brian becomes excited. He says that he saw its eyes move. He puts it on the windshield of the van. I was still sitting in the van , so I could see the bottom of it. It looked a lot like Ben's snake, but it also looked very lifelike. I wanted to believe that it was just a toy, but something in me kept thinking but what if it wasn't? Well, Ben decides to bring the snake in the van. Brian and I both went a little crazy then. We were pretty sure it was the toy snake but just in case it wasn't we did not want it in the van. Despite Ben's protests we made him leave the snake at my dad's house. We told him that if it was still there later on , we would let him bring it with him. I knew my dad would have his phone turned off since he was at church, so I texted my sister instead. She insisted it was a real snake that had flicked its tongue at dad. Well after church , my dad goes back and I guess he picked it up. Upon closer examination he figured out it was a toy snake and not a real one. When he called us to tell us, I told him that Ben had left his toy snake there the day before. My dad had not known this at the time, or he probably would not have assumed that it was a real snake. We decided that what he thought was a tongue flicking was a piece of frost coming off the snake when he hit it. I will not go into the details about three semi intelligent, semi rational adults who believed this toy snake was real. I think the part that intigrues me the most is that Ben never doubted it was his snake. He picked it up , looked at the markings, looked at details only he knew about. He knew that it was his snake. I wonder if its not a little like God and us. We have people around us who insist that we are this or we are that. They try to put us into a box and tell others that this is what we are supposed to do, and be , and say. The snake could not argue with all the things being said about it, because it was a toy. It was powerless to argue with the things being said about it no matter how untrue or misleading they were. Oftentimes we feel powerless to defend ourselves against misleading or untrue things which are being said about us. Yet Ben as the owner simply picked it up and said , "no this is mine. I am the owner and I know what it was created for, to have fun and to scare parents . " Similarly God picks us up, looks at us and says ," this one is mine, I know who this is and what their purpose is because I CREATED them! " And just like Ben loves his snake and tries to take care of it, God the Father showers us with an everlasting love that we cannot fathom. And just like the true nature of the snake was eventually discovered, the true nature of God's creations is discovered as well. So maybe the purpose of mr scary looking toy snake is more than just scaring parents out of their wits, maybe it too can teach us about God .........if we let it.