Popcorn and Mr. Grinch - Stories, Poems and Humor



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It was the sound of gravel in a wheelbarrow, or dry beans in a pan. It was a sound I came to hear on many Sundays, late in the afternoon after I married my wife, Nancy.

My father-in-law was chief popper of the corn. He plugged in a special machine that began rotating through a dab of oil and once it was hot enough he would pour in the popcorn kernels (thus the sound). Soon the life inside the kernel caused it to turn inside out and turned from a yellowish brown to white and took up roughly eight times the size of the original kernel.

Sometimes my mind works in rather peculiar ways, which is perhaps the reason it occurred to me that popcorn is a perfectly natural lesson in God's love for us and how He is able to transform our lives.

The Bible tells us in Isaiah, "Though your sins be as scarlet they shall be white as snow."

Perhaps that should be "as white as popcorn".

God takes our puny selfish, introverted kernels and in the heat of His love we begin to see His grace. And the life that is reborn in His love causes our whole life to turn inside out. Just like the popcorn, we are transformed to something clean and white. Not only that but our lives can be used for a much larger purpose.

Many will remember the original Dr. Seuess book that indicated that once the evil Mr. Grinch discovers that the Hoo's down in Hooville can celebrate Christmas without all the Christmas goodies he pilfered from them, his heart swells to an enormous size and he is transformed into a delightfully good Grinch (although he still remains a rather nauseating shade of green).

And they all sing a rousing chorus of "Ya-Hoo-Door-Ay" which has a meaning only to Hoo's (but I bet the melody is running through your mind right now).

So, the next time you hear popcorn popping or hear the story of Mr. Grinch, remember it was a baby twenty centuries ago that is still changing hearts from the inside out.

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