The big container was dumped out on the table, and we began.
"Oh, here's some new stuff!"
In the new can the play dough was smooth and flexible, moldable, and easy to form into shapes. While Little Sister happily transferred the old, lumpy play dough in and out of its container, Big Brother pressed a lump of the new stuff into the piece of play equipment I call the garlic press. Spaghetti-like strands extruded from the little holes, but turned into little bumps when he tried to pull the lump out.
"It looks like a cheese grater!" I said.
Soon its wedge shape turned into an armchair. Then a man to sit in it. Then another wedge shape looked like a foot bath. Our imaginations ran rampant.
Little Brother said, "I want a man and a chair, too!"
"OK!"
I told the boys, "My dad and I used to make things out of play dough when I was your age. Only it was called Plasticene."
"That was my great-grandfather," said Big Brother, who is six.
Wow, I thought to myself, quick thinking.
There's a Bible verse that in a modern translation says, Don't let the world squeeze you into its mold, that is, don't copy the behaviour and customs of this world. As a Christian, I'm to let God transform me into a new person by changing the way I think. God is the One to do the squeezing, poking and stretching to mold me into the kind of person he wants me to be. Sometimes the process is painful, like the play dough man who kept losing his arm. I won't reach perfection any time soon because He's still working on me through the pokings and proddings of this life. One day I will be changed to be like Him!
