When our kids were small, someone gave them each a bag of cheap party favor toys.

Of course, it only took a minute for one twinkly flashlight to stop working, for the paddle ball string to break, for a tattoo to get ripped, and for the youngest to discover the ink stamp was dry.

What followed was nothing short of strife. The tragedy and injustice of cheap, broken treasures were just too much for the children.

To deal with the uproar and restore peace, I let each child choose two things to keep and got rid of the rest. It interested me to see that none chose to keep something that had broken (except the tattoos). They chose things that were “sure” — things that wouldn’t disappoint and cause strife.

We need to do the same. We need to choose the surety of God’s quiet peace to permeate our home instead of the overwhelming strife that comes from the brokenness of a “party favor” kind of life.

Who would have thought a bag of toys could teach such a great lesson!