Gumball Machines

            I am still a kid at heart and I can prove it.  I took my grandmother out to lunch Sunday and we had to wait in the restaurant’s lobby for a table.  That’s where I saw the gumball machines.  My heart skipped a beat.  What wondrous prizes those glass spheres hold. There were bubblegum balls, bouncy balls, and my favorite, jewelry. It was all I could do not put quarters in them and turn the handles.

            I grew up on a farm and we had a well for our water supply. Anytime we had a problem with the well, my mom and mamaw (grandmother) would take the laundry to the laundry mat. I loved to do that.  In the back of the building were rows of gumball machines. Oh my goodness!  I couldn’t wait to waste their quarters.  It was so exciting to put the quarter in the slot and turn the handle.  What exotic prize awaited me? 

             Of course I went to different machines, but I always got a bouncy ball first.  If there were other kids there, we would play together with them.  Sometimes we wreaked a little havoc.  The ones that held jewelry were a different story.  Very rarely did I get the pretty piece of jewelry I saw on the front of the machine.  Then I would have to beg and plead for another quarter as I tried for the prize I wanted.

“Many are the plans in a person’s heart, but it is the Lord’s purpose that prevails.” Proverbs 19:21(NIV)

            Aren’t life’s happenings like the prizes in the gumball machines?  We see the pretty prizes we want and try our best to get them.  Sometimes we do get the little piece of jewelry or the pink glittery bouncy ball we want.  At other times, we never get the prize that we want regardless of how many quarters we may spend. God knows what prizes are best for us and which ones are not.  Thankfully, His plans will always prevail and not ours.  Besides, I don’t know about you, but I don’t have that many quarters.