Knothole in a Fence

Often I'm in a position of helping children understand why bad or sad things happen.  It isn't an easy task, especially when, as an adult, I often can't understand.  Years ago, I heard a sermon illustration about a knothole in a fence.  Over the years, I've tweaked it to be more child-centered.  God has used this simple illustration to help many understand that we MAY NEVER know why bad or sad things happen.  

I'm asked to repeat this story often, so I decided to write it down.  

First I'll share the illustration and then a wonderful example of God using it in an extraordinary way.  

The illustration: 

When I was a little girl, I loved to go to parades. Because my hometown was small, I usually could see the entire parade at one glance! I could see the beginning, middle, and the end. The parade all made sense.

Years later, I heard an illustration comparing life to a parade - only instead of seeing the entire parade at a glance,  we are watching the parade standing behind a wooden fence. We can only see the parade through a knothole in the fence. This means we don't see the entire parade. We know what has gone by earlier in the parade and we can see what is immediately in front of us. We are not able to see what is yet to come.

As we are watching the parade through the knothole, a float with a beauty queen comes by. It is lovely.  We enjoy a marching band and a troop of Boy Scouts.  Then, in the middle of the parade, something terrible comes along. It is ugly and even scary.  It doesn't seem to "fit" in the parade. In fact, it seems to ruin the entire parade. We are unable to see what is coming behind the ugliness. We can't see the end of the parade.

In fact, only God sees the entire parade. He knows all. Nothing surprises Him. We may, in time, understand why the ugliness was in the parade. However, it may be in heaven before we fully see God's plan.

That's right.  We may NEVER know why a parade - or life - doesn't seem to make sense.  As much as we want to figure things out, we aren't God.  

Ultimately, God WILL bring glory to Himself! Our job isn't to figure it all out. Our job is to trust in His sovereignty.

One way God used this simple illustration:

Several years ago, I was counseling a sweet first grader.  He was heartbroken.  His parents were separated and he was struggling to understand.  The boy and his mom had just moved, and they had done so in a hurry.  Things at their home were in disarray.  Not only was his father suddenly not in the picture, the boy felt his whole life was being stored in boxes. 

I had never shared the above illustration with children as young as first grade, but this little one was SO smart, sensitive, and perceptive, I really felt he would understand.  I said a silent prayer and then began sharing the story of the parade.  

Not only did the little one understand, but he recounted the illustration to his mother that night at bedtime - almost word for word.  

While the family was not settled, one precious picture was not in a box.

The mother went to the boy's closet and took out a large, framed professional photograph.

It was a picture of this very boy looking through a knothole in a fence.  

A few years earlier, the boy had been used in an advertisement and the photo used was of him, dressed in sweet little boy overalls, looking through a knothole in a fence.  The mother had the photo framed and it was among her prized possessions.  

In that family's home, during a sweet bedtime moment, both mother and son felt God giving them a big hug.  The hug was in the form of a photograph of a knothole in a fence.   

These are the kinds of stories that make me wonder how anyone can doubt the presence of a sovereign God - who goes before us, comes behind us, and keeps us in His loving care.