Like many mothers with small children, I have regular occasion to thank the American Indians for their invention of the humble baked bean.

However I was remarkably unthankful for its presence today.

I start every morning with a smoothie. It doesn’t matter what goes in it. (Except that I’m enthusiastic about it containing banana.) Other than that I’m free and easy, lemon squeezy.

Today, whilst whipping cream for a chocolate trifle, rocking my baby’s chair with one foot and reading an email, I reached into the fridge for an already open tin of pears. (Yes I KNOW I shouldn’t put tins in the fridge. Thank you.)

I threw it into the smoothie maker and then saw in horror little red beans land on top of my banana, orange juice and yoghurt.

I tried to extricate the worst of it… But it was too late.

I told myself it wouldn’t taste too bad. The other flavours would over-ride it, surely? How wrong could it be? Tomato is a fruit- I’m told… and so it stands to reason that tomato sauce must be kind of ‘fruity’… And beans are… Well, beans.

The colour when ‘whizzed’ was alarming to say that least. It wasn’t the ‘red knickers left in white wash’ pink I was expecting. It was proper David Dickenson orange.

But of course, I wasn’t going to WASTE it. I tasted it. Vile! Completely rancid. I have been brought up by parents who believe ‘best before’ dates are an urban myth and that a little healthy mould is uncommonly good for you.

I couldn’t finish it though. Even when I held my nose…I couldn’t get the smell, taste and colour of those beans out of my head.

We can’t hide our sin from God. Even a tiny bit of sin is a dead giveaway. Literally. He can smell it a mile off. It spoils the whole flavour of His intention for us.

I had a wonderful boyfriend at university whom I was sure I would marry. (Interesting fact: He was called Steve. My husband is called Jon.) I remember one day asking Steve the fatal question, ‘Where are we?’
It wasn’t a geographical answer I required, but an emotional one. I wanted to know how he really felt about me.

When Adam and Eve hid from God, He asked a similar question. ‘Where are you?’ He knew EXACTLY which bush they had darted behind and why. He wanted to know what state their hearts were now in…. How they felt about what they had done.
Sin had entered the world and there was no going back.

It made me wonder today what I try to keep from my Father. What sin do I seek to disguise with the other more paletable ‘flavours’ of my life? Maybe that’s the worst sin of all…. Trying to attach a false beard and dark glasses to a personality flaw in the hope of getting it through ‘grace’ customs.

‘Guilty as charged’, my Lord.

Well, today I have learnt that I can’t hide baked beans in a smoothie. I have also been reminded that I can’t hide my rubbish from God. Nor can you, however hard you try to dress it up.

Incidentally, my friend’s 5 year old will also tell you that you can’t hide broccoli in a glass of milk.

Wise words my friend.