One of the few cereals I liked when I was little, was cheerios. Plain cheerios were 'alright', but in my small mind, the best thing ever was to have cheerios with fresh strawberries in them. Even when I was little I always accompanied my mom to the store. I remember one particular time when she told me to pick out which kind of cereal I wanted. Naturally, I darted to the rather large section of cheerios. What seemed like hundreds of choices of cereal loomed before me, and I could spend all day deciding. Knowing that I didn't have all day to decide in, I grabbed a box with a seemingly perfect picture. In the box picture was a large shiny spoon with a mound full of cheerios stacked high on it. Milk swam in the bowl below the spoon. And, to top it all off, there were my beloved strawberries, beautifully mixed in with the cheerios, not to mention generously sprinkled on. I could already imagine biting into the plump, juicy strawberries. I quickly grabbed that picture perfect box and ran to the cart, and, as I did with all of my precious items, placed the cheerio box on the cart's childs seat. I then fumbled with the buckle. Clumsily I secured the buckle around my precious box of strawberry cheerios. Sighing contentedly, I willingly offered helpful suggestions to what we should buy, (suggestions such as begging for cookies, chips, and healthy things such as that).
The next morning I woke up rather tired, wishing I could have slept in more. Strangely enough, my tiredness vanished completely when I remember the box of cheerios. My strawberry covered cheerios. Scooting my stool over to the fridge, I climbed up and successfully took down my cheerios. I grabbed a bowl and a spoon, and sped over to the table. After requesting that my dad open the box (as most of the boxes I attempted to open turn out tattered in my frenzied attempts to open it quickly) he opened it for me. Thinking for only a second how jealous I was of him for being able to open it so perfectly, I peeked in the box. Cheerios were covering the box, but I didn't spot a single one of my juicy strawberries. Convinced they were hiding at the bottom, I started to pour myself a bowl. Only dried up old looking strawberries came out. No fresh, juicy, bright red strawberries.
I instantly questioned my dad, holding up one of the pitiful looking dried strawberries. "What are these?! The box showed juicy strawberries!" He explained gently that these were airtight strawberries, they wouldn't rot like the fresh ones would. I was instantly let down. I had mainly gotten these cheerios for the juicy strawberries--I had been cheated of them! I then demanded, "Why did the box lie?! They showed a picture of these, it has to have these in it!". Unaware that I had been expecting the juicy strawberries, my dad tried explaining to me again, but I felt I had been cheated. "This is a massive injustice! We should return the box for a box of fresh strawberries! The box says you can if you're not satisfied, and I'm not satisfied at ALL!" I remember thinking, filling with a rage. I finally settled down to eat the cheerios, disgustedly tasting all of the dried up strawberries. I stared at the box the whole time I ate, thinking if I looked upset at the the whole time, maybe it would help.
We tend to put our trust in people. Now, it's not bad to trust people, but we have to understand that they're only human, they're going to mess up. They're going to disappoint us. But if we put our trust in God, He will never forsake us. We may be disappointed because He didn't do something how we wanted Him to, but He has a good plan for us, and He's in control. I put my trust in the picture on the cereal box, sure that it would come out exactly how it said. But I was sorely disappointed, my lovely fresh envisioned strawberries were nowhere to be seen, only tiny dried up rather wilted looking bits of strawberries. Hebrews 13:5 says, "“I will never leave you nor forsake you.” People come in and out of our lives, you can't guarantee whose going to stay in your life and who won't, but you can be sure that God will. He promises never to leave or forsake us! And He doesn't false advertise like that box of cheerios did. Why don't we put our trust in the one whose perfect, who will never forsake us, and who loves us faithfully?
Kayla Joy
