God Hears HerNäide

Spoonful of Sugar

Where is Mary Poppins when you need her?

I know this sounds as if I’m longing for the good old days when cheerfully unrealistic movies featured characters like this fictional nanny, but what I’m really longing for are people with a vision for the future that is realistically optimistic. I yearn for joyful, creative people who can show us the positive side of what we consider negative, who can remind us that “just a spoonful of sugar makes the medicine go down.”

David wrote a song that expressed a similar truth. In his words, “the decrees of the Lord” are “sweeter than honey” (Psalm 19:9–10). Often we hear that it is bitter or hard to swallow. But the truth is, a gourmet meal should be presented as a culinary delight, enticing the hungry to “taste and see that the Lord is good” (34:8).

“Jesus is the sweetest name I know,” says the song. Pure truth, untainted by pride, is the sweetest, most refreshing taste of all to those who hunger for spiritual sustenance. We have the privilege of serving it to a starving world. —Julie