The Green Monkey Solution
Art Linkletter was right when he said, "Kids say the darndest things". He made a living off a TV show of the same name. It all began when he sat down to talk to his oldest son, Jack, who had just returned from the first day of Kindergarten.
From that conversation sprang the TV show that ran from 1952 to 1970 as well as several best-selling books. All were about letting kids give their unrehearsed and candid views on life.
Out of the mouths of babes, eh?
I had a Linkletter experience just a few weeks back. We have three grandkids: Girl Sr., Girl Jr., and Solo Son. Girl Sr. is going to be 5 soon, Girl Jr. just turned 3, and Solo Son has rounded his first year and crawling full-bore to his second.
Girl Jr. was celebrating her birthday with a ”Blue Party". Everything was blue. The cupcakes, the decorations, even the sweet potatoes and mac'n'cheese (her two favorites) had the disturbing pallor of something found dead on the tundra just south of Barrows, Alaska.
Girl Jr. loved monkeys. And unicorns. And princess stuff. All of which MUST be blue - hence the party theme.
I found a blue monkey on sale. It was a squishy simian which came with two of its buddies, a red monkey and a green monkey. Together they made up the visual story of "See/Speak/Hear-No-Evil".
Thinking like a grandpa, I figured that Girl Jr. could have the blue monkey and Girl Sr. and Solo Son could duke it out for the other two. There was no duking. Girl Sr. took the red one and handed the green one to Solo Son. He promptly stuck it in his mouth and crawled off like a Marine private under the barbed wire of a live-fire experience.
Friends and family were gathered for the Blue Party. Within an hour from the first tear of wrapping paper, Girl Jr. was in a state of blue numbness. Blue toys, blue dresses, and stacks of coloring books lay piled around the living room. The sweet potatoes, mac'n'cheese, and cupcakes had come and gone. Adults lounged around, downing coffee and sparkling waters as Girl Jr., Girl Sr., and Solo Son moved from pile to pile.
Our daughter, mother of The Three, tried to bring an educational moment to the aftermath. She held up the blue monkey who had its hands over its mouth.
"Do you know what this means, honey?"
Girl Jr. gave it a quick look/shrug and went back to her current toy fixation. The Daughter did not give up.
"See the hands over the monkey's mouth? That means "speak no evil"."
She got up and corralled the other two monkeys. Holding up the red one with its eyes covered, she tried again.
"And what is the red monkey telling us?"
Girl Jr. did a half-hearted glance-and-shrug. The Daughter plowed on.
"See. He has his hands over his eyes. That means "see no evil"."
She reached for the final monkey, the green one, who had its hands over its ears.
"Look, honey. What is this one saying?"
Girl Jr. looked at the monkey then stared at her mother. She carefully put down her toy and stood up. Then, in a blur of motion, she slapped her hands over her ears and yelled -
"OHMYGOD!"
She dropped her hands, stooped down to get her toy, and wandered out of the living room.
Startled silence exploded into the snorts, barks, and wheezes of uncontrolled laughter. Yep. One of those moments that would've gone viral if we would've been ready. A "million-hits" video that only lived a second.
On the three-hour drive home, I chuckled each time it replayed in my head. An hour from home, I drained the last of the Elixir of Knowledge from the convenience store cup - and that's when it hit me.
Girl Jr. had it right. When my hands slap my head in abject despair and confusion, I should follow her lead and call out to the One who knows.
The One who cares.
"O my God!”
David, a man after God's own heart, shouted it in the dark times, in those fearful, "I-dunno-what-to-do" times. Nehemiah did, too.
Maybe that's why He tells us to be like children. Children who cry out and run to their Abba, unashamed and trusting.
Truth - out of the mouths of babes.
I think Mr. Linkletter would've enjoyed that.