Inflatable Alligators, Lolly Sticks and All That Remains

I was visiting Jack. ‘Look what I’ve got,’ he said, pointing to a box on the floor. I picked it up. It contained an inflatable, over-six-foot-long alligator. He asked me to blow it up. Choosing not to inflate it I asked, ‘Why does a man, with significant mobility issues, living in a first floor flat, have a large inflatable alligator?’

He explained… One night, having consumed a little too much alcohol he’d gone on line and made this purchase… All that remains of that night? An inflatable alligator. And the make? ‘Bestway!’

Jack’s experience reminded me of…

The old Max Bygraves song: ‘When you come to the end of a lollipop’, containing the immortal verse:

Gilly Oh golly, how I love my lolly,
Down to the very last lick,
But when you are through with it, what can you do with it,
All you have left is the stick.

All that remains? The stick! The song says it’s as much fun as a yoyo without any string… pretty much like a deflated inflatable alligator.

The old Greek myth of Pandora’s box: Zeus gave Pandora a box, warning her never to open it. Overcome by curiosity Pandora opened the box. Out flew greed, envy, hatred, pain, disease, hunger, poverty, war, death…

Pandora slammed the box shut, but it was too late. All of life’s miseries had been released into the world. All that remained in the box was hope.

Watching the news we see all that came from Pandora’s box; sometimes the remaining hope isn’t evident.

The old Biblical statement from St Paul: ‘And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.’

When all that remains could be an inflatable alligator or a lolly-stick, it’s good to reflect on a faith in an unseen greater power, a certain hope for a positive future, and an all-conquering, all-embracing love.

And from my Jesus-following perspective I look to Jesus as the one who ensures that such faith, hope and love remains.