Yesterday, during a characteristically hectic day at work, I forced myself to escape for 30 precious minutes to indulge in some trans-fat sustenance and a little word swapping with the Good Lord:

I shouldn’t be here. It’s been busy at work, and we’re down a man. I’m breaking my own law today. I’m a thief. I’ve stolen time. Oh, the cleverness of me!
What prompted Peter Pan to say that? If I remember right, he said it after Wendy Darling finished sewing his shadow back on. “Oh, the cleverness of me!” What a great word – “cleverness.” I don’t recall seeing it used at any other time than in the Peter Pan story. It’s a perfect word for a smart-ass like Peter. I wonder why he thought he was so clever. There he sits, blubbering like a baby, until Wendy re-attaches his deviant shadow, and suddenly he’s ascribing hallelujahs to his own superior wisdom. What did he do that was so great? He flew into Wendy’s room, that’s what. It was certainly more of a happy accident than clever planning.
Humans must do this all the time with You. We stumble into a solution that You graciously provide for our problems – to recover the loss of something most precious to us – and once rescued, we exclaim, “Oh, the cleverness of me!” Funny thing, Wendy didn’t get too upset with Peter. And maybe You don’t get too upset with us, either. Maybe You flash a semi-wry grin, let us have our little moment, then go on being the precious, beautiful One You are.
Today, I’ll make a small dent in the gigantic heap of bullshit we’ve accumulated in the process of shoveling misappropriated praise.
Today, I will say, “Oh the cleverness of You!”
That felt pretty good. Felt so good, I’m inclined to follow with saying, Oh, the cleverness of me!