Marker Zebra Stripes
It all started several weeks ago when my husband and I decided to watch Madagascar for the first (and hopefully, only) time in our lives. What I thought was just a questionable-decision-birthed-out-of-boredom turned out to be a full-fledged Madasgascar-a-thon when all was said and done. That’s right…so because Jeff thought Madagascar 1 was pretty hilarious, we ended up watching sequels. [Side thoughts: Why don’t filmmakers ever label first movies with a 1… letting you know there’s more to come.. and as a warning that you should probably just walk away from watching the first movie at some point, so that you don’t end up pretending to like it & be stuck in a Madagascar-a-thon. Just saying]. So we started watching the sequels, & they were really not great. at all. & yet there’s a ton of them. & then the spin-off movie. About the penguins. I just can’t. I guess I’m just not in a season of life to get that severely bored.
So, all sequel-sadness aside, there’s a part in Madagascar 1 where the zebra is confusingly-yet-curiously questioning if he’s a white zebra with black stripes or a black zebra with white stripes. Seems silly, because zebras are really all the same. And that’s precisely the point of the joke.
Fast forward a few weeks, my family and I took a mini-vacation to Wild Adventures in Valdosta, Georgia. We had a lot of fun with the rides, the water park, the $8 ICEES, the $20 mediocre pizza, and the safari dealio that let us see all the animals… including one elephant, one giraffe, a bunch of zebras, and some other animals here and there. (Let’s just say if you have a year pass to the Jacksonville zoo, you’d be underwhelmed by the animals at Wild Adventures. At least that’s what the looks on my toddlers’ faces told me. But for real, we had a good time & enjoyed it.) While we were on the “safari,” the guide explained to us how to tell if a zebra is white with black stripes or black with white stripes. No kidding, that’s actually a thing. She said that you can tell the color of the zebra by looking at his nose. (Example: White-nosed zebra means he’s white with black stripes.) Although, if you google that theory, you might find yourself on web pages that contain some pretty heated debates. about zebra skin & stripes colors. So, don’t google it? Or do? And get heated about it? Again, I’m not in a season of life to be that interested-and-bored simultaneously. So…
Fast forward to today. Today, I woke up to a day much like other days. One child up & at the breakfast table ready for Princess Multivitamin Gummies & toast. And the other child. Still dead-to-the-world-asleep. On my bed. The middle of my bed. Laying actually pretty perpendicular to the edge of the bed. Again. So there’s that. We’re working on it - that’s an issue for a whole ‘nother blog.
After breakfast time and the wake-edge of sibling-steal-yo-sleep, the girls & I all moved on to picking outfits for the day. Always fun times. Today, one child decided on dressing like Ana from Frozen (sure, why not?). My other child decided to dress like a flamingo (ok, do your thing, girl). Here I must clarify that the flamingo outfit was actually a footed-onesie-pajama; and yes, it was picked out by my little sweetness that decided to come sleep in my bed for what felt like forever last night. (Also, note that this changing-of-the-beds is becoming our family’s version of the changing-of-the-guards at Buckingham Palace. Our shift change is usually around 2 a.m., FYI.) So, here we are, flamingo pajamas-for-the-day & all. Just when I almost wanted to make a comment something like “wearing pajamas for a daytime outfit won’t give your parents more sleep at night, but sleeping in your own bedroom will”… the flamingo decided to become Elsa from Frozen. So, I flew with it & decided to Let it Go. (Terrible joke… but I just had to. ;-) )
After breakfast time and the wake-edge of sibling-steal-yo-sleep, the girls & I all moved on to picking outfits for the day. Always fun times. Today, one child decided on dressing like Ana from Frozen (sure, why not?). My other child decided to dress like a flamingo (ok, do your thing, girl). Here I must clarify that the flamingo outfit was actually a footed-onesie-pajama; and yes, it was picked out by my little sweetness that decided to come sleep in my bed for what felt like forever last night. (Also, note that this changing-of-the-beds is becoming our family’s version of the changing-of-the-guards at Buckingham Palace. Our shift change is usually around 2 a.m., FYI.) So, here we are, flamingo pajamas-for-the-day & all. Just when I almost wanted to make a comment something like “wearing pajamas for a daytime outfit won’t give your parents more sleep at night, but sleeping in your own bedroom will”… the flamingo decided to become Elsa from Frozen. So, I flew with it & decided to Let it Go. (Terrible joke… but I just had to. ;-) )
So, here we are, Ana & Elsa & way too many details for how we started our day [can you tell I’m blogging during a nap-duet-situation that only occurs every-not-so-often.]... at some point in the mid-morning to noon time, my girls ran off into their playroom & disappeared for a short while to have some fun. They did really well. They played nicely together. They played quietly together. And (why didn’t I see this coming?!) they played mischievously together.
Just when their gourmet chef finished putting the homemade touches on the mac-and-squeeze-cheese for lunch, the girls yelled, “Mommy! Look I’ve got tiger stripes!” So apparently what happened was an innocent dry erase easel situation quickly turned into a whole other matter completely. At lunch & in talking to my girls about their marker “tiger” stripes, I was quickly corrected that the tiger stripes had actually turned into zebra stripes mid-conversation. Of course, mom, because the skin is white and the marker is black…. Or is it? (In this case, it is. But I’m going somewhere here….)
Zebras. Black and white. White and black. Black with white stripes? White with black stripes? Much debate goes on about this very topic. Much heated debate. Google knows all about it.
Either way, they’re all zebras, right?
Well this is a bit of a stretch, but since you’ve read with me this far, let me make this redeem-the-time-you-just-lost-from-reading-my-zebra-blog application.
All zebras look the same. Well, for the most part. You hear the word “zebra,” you get a mental image of a zebra. The debate of black-to-white or white-to-black is silly, but it’s for real.
Let’s go here with this: people, we’re all the same. Well, let me say it this way. We’re all in the same situation, spiritually speaking. There’s some “good” people, and some “bad” people, right? (That’s completely false, but hang with me for a moment here.) As in, if the white stood for holiness & the black stood for evil, then there would be some white-zebra-with-black-stripes kind of people and some black-zebra-with-white-stripes kind of people. You know, there are people who are “good” and go to church and do nice things and only participate in “small sins” (as if that were an actual thing). And there’s people that are “bad” and do “big sins” alot (as if that were any more offensive to God than “good” people doing “small sins”). Do you see where I’m going with this? There’s not such a thing as good people doing small sins, and bad people doing big sins. White-zebras-with-black-stripes & black-zebras-with-white stripes. The debates can go on all day long, but at the end of the day, zebras are zebras.
The same goes for people. People all over - inside & outside of churches alike - are people. Some think they’re good, very, very good. They’ve gotten saved, gotten over it, & now only participate in “small sins.” (a.k.a. white-zebras-with-black-stripes). While others think they’re too bad to be loved by God. They’ve done all the “big sins,” & no amount of charity-goodness or church attendance can make God want to pay attention to them, let alone love & save them from themselves. (a.k.a. black-zebras-with-white-stripes). But the truth of the matter is that people are people, and all people are sinners. There’s no black-white-combo. It may appear that way on the outside, but on the inside it’s not that way.
In fact, one particular online zebra debate I GLANCED over stated that although zebras have certain color fur with certain color stripes…. (are you ready for this?)… when zebras are shaved down to the skin… they’re all black. And therein, lies my long-drawn-out point. Deep down, all zebras are black. Deep inside, all people are sinners. We all need the same true God, Who is Jesus Christ. It takes the same amount of His blood to save me as it did/does to save you.. and the guy down the street who only speaks the language of four-letter words… and the woman who sells her body in a crazy quest for love... and the man who let his anger run away with him & somehow landed himself in jail... and the sweet old lady that sits next to you in church & you wish she didn't because she overdoes it on the perfume. every. single. week.... and...It sounds extreme, but it's true.
We ALL need the same amount of His grace….we need all of it.
No matter how well people may dress it up, God knows the truth. He knows our hearts. Our hearts are desperately wicked, & it literally takes an act of God to make them new….
I have so much more to say (write?) here, but the beloved naptime-for-two reservation has just expired.
With all said, a sinner’s a sinner. A zebra’s a zebra. An Ana is an Ana. An Elsa is an Elsa (or is an Elsa now a flamingo?... I’m sure 2 a.m. will awake me with the answer tonight.) Until then, you can be sure I’ll be spending my afternoon actively avoiding any chance of getting sucked into Madagascar-a-thon 2.0, sighing at the resignation/posting of this unfinished blog, & scrubbing dry erase marker zebra stripes off of Ana & Elsa. (Curious: Are flamingos w/ zebra stripes even a thing?! #askingforafriend)
