I’ve never cried over spilt milk, though recently I groaned a little. My 12 grandchildren had just enjoyed a lunch of leftovers and were obediently bringing their dirty dishes from the deck tables to the kitchen. That was when one of them stumbled, spilling half a glass of milk into the open silverware drawer.

And I groaned.

If he’d have tripped one short step further, the spill would have been a simple floor puddle, easily cleaned. Several of us watched the milk drizzle through the silverware, recognizing the set-back, but as with most of the messes children make, it wasn’t worth crying over.

The old adage that advises us not to cry over spilt milk has a non-Christian origin from the mid-1600’s when a group of English people strongly believed in fairies. They would leave small offerings of food and drink, especially milk (the fairies’ favorite). If a little was spilled in the process, the idea was to quickly mop it up and not stress over what no one could go back and do differently.

Though we don’t believe in fairies today (except the tooth fairy, of course), the thought behind the old spilt milk axiom has a parallel in Scripture. God advises us not to worry about the past, which can’t be rearranged, but to keep pressing forward. It’s one of Satan’s most insidious lies that the Lord won’t love someone who has some “spilt milk” in their background.

Thankfully, God debunks that throughout the Bible, reassuring us of his unconditional love again and again. Our part is to believe what he says, that he’ll continue to love us, no matter what.

And concerning the grandson whose milk flowed through the silverware? I love him just as much today as I did the day before his stumble. But, in a far grander way, we can all be thankful that God will always love us, no matter what spills are in our past.

“Love…. binds everything together in perfect harmony.” (Colossians 3:14)