Andy Griffith vs The Tasmanian Devil

Besides the proverbial apple pie and baseball, nothing is as All-American as The Andy Griffith Show.


My family has recently rekindled our romance with the show.  I love that my kids ask to watch it.  I love that I can turn it on and leave the room.  I love even more than I can turn it on and that we all can watch it together!

But my favorite thing about it is that Ninja is the mini-me of Barney Fife and he doesn't even know it.

Ninja is certain that in our home he rules the roost and is law of the land.  He is serious about his role.  And he does not, does not, does not like to be made fun of or have his ego tarnished.   Soaking wet he probably weighs 50 pounds.  But what he lacks in stature he makes up for in heart.  He is all heart.  He is all in when it is something he believes in.  Just like Barney.  And just like Barney he is all smart mouth, citizens arrest, in your business, tough guy on the outside.  But on the inside he's just a 9 year old boy with a big ol' tender heart.

Don't you see the resemblance?

I started thinking the other day as Andy was rescuing Barney's reputation for the 900th time why I loved this show so much.  More specifically, what is it about Andy that is so appealing?   At first I thought it was how laid back he was...easy going.  Quite the opposite of my 'panties in a wad' mentality I have been perfecting lately.  But then it hit me as I was watching the one where a fugitive is on the loose, one that has threatened Barney and scared the tutti-fruiti  out of him. And Andy, in his graciousness, arranges for Barney to find the scallywag in a barn and have him arrested.  This simple act restores Barney's confidence and puts his ego back in tact.   This simple act of sacrificial love reaped a harvest that was only known by one person.  Andy.

That's why we love him so much.  He doesn't mind to go unnoticed.  To make someone look better without getting any recognition of his own.  He takes delight in making someone else great.

It made me think of this verse

You give me your shield of victory, and your right hand sustains me; you stoop down to make me great.

Psalm 18:35

God, in his sacrificial love, is constantly stooping down to make us great.  Not merely for ourselves, mind you, for His glory. I am fascinated that the Holy God that we serve, the One that created the world with a spoken word, would stoop down and be gentle with us to make us great.  He stoops down when He comforts us in our hurts, convicts us in our sin, and is a friend to us in our loneliness.

And what makes us great? 

 Being known by Him!  That this same God would reveal Himself to us is what makes us great.  Nothing that we have done.  Only what He does in us.  

 I stoop down many times during the day.  I stoop to tie shoes, pick up dirty underwear, dress children, and give baths.  I sometimes get discouraged that these simple acts go unnoticed and unappreciated.  I am not an Andy.  I like the recognition and gratitude.  Like Barney, my ego sometimes gets bruised.  But I have to remind myself in these times of discouragement that they are noticed.  They are noticed by the most important One.  And that like Him, I need to continually be gentle in heart as a wife to The Honey and mother to The Yahoos.  That the point of my stooping during the day, the kind acts that are never noticed, the kind words that are sometimes rejected, are not to make ME great, but to make THEM great.  To encourage THEM.  To spur THEM on to love and good deeds.  

Or do you think lightly of the riches of His kindness and tolerance and patience, not knowing that the kindness of God leads you to repentance?

 Romans 2:4

So when Baby is throwing rocks at the cats or Sweet Yahoo just can't seem to get her math (again) or Little Middle won't stop irritating everyone or Ninja's smart mouth causes me to want to blow my top and go all Tasmanian devil on them  I have GOT to remind myself that it is in His gentleness that they will be made great.  Not in my best Tasmanian devil impersonation.  And that it is in His kindness that they will be lead to repentance.  Them and me both.