When traveling in Botswana, I experienced elephants moving through the area knocking down trees and tearing out shrubs as they went. Occasionally fence posts and sheds would be included in the destruction. Maintaining a safe camp in elephant country was quite a challenge. One of the rangers there was fond of saying, “You can’t have anything nice with elephants around.”

Today, my husband and I use that as a joke when something is damaged by our dog or the wind or our own carelessness. “You can’t have anything nice with elephants around.”

This could be said of the world in general as well. Nothing that is good seems to last. Things break, decay, and wear out. Damage comes from all directions: weather, war, sabotage, greed, vandalism, theft, neglect…

In our own lives, we have to deal with disease, injuries, attacks, loss of all kinds. It is a broken world. No one is immune to hardship and suffering.

The elephant in our story is sin.

“One who is righteous has many adversities, but the Lord rescues him from them all.” (Psalms‬ ‭34‬:‭19,‬ ‭CSB‬‬)

Fortunately, God has a solution to our elephant-sized sin problem. He plans on making a world free of elephants, I mean sin. Anyone who accepts the gift of forgiveness offered through Jesus can live in this new world. We can all finally have something nice.

Dear God, I’m sorry for the ways I have allowed sin to run rampant in my life. Thank you for your forgiveness and for helping me to rebuild. I’m so grateful for your promise to remake the world without sin and the destruction it causes.