A Theology of Root Beer Floats

            A few weeks ago, I made a comment on facebook about loving root beer floats.  I noticed that this brief comment garnered many more likes and comments than my typical blog post, and observed that I should probably start blogging about root beer floats.

            Well, why not?  It’s summer.  If there was ever a time for root beer floats, this is it.  So, why not write about it?

            Why root beer floats, I wonder?  How did root beer became the beverage of choice for floats?  No one seems to know the reason, other than I gather it was the beverage used first.  I even went to the modern-day repository of all knowledge, the internet, and could not find the answer. 

It seems curious.  I like root beer okay, but it’s not my favorite soft drink.  I prefer Coke or Pepsi.  Most people do.  You can make a Coke float or a Pepsi float, of course, but most people don’t.  The root beer float is the gold standard, the thing all other floats are compared to.  It’s the Babe Ruth of floats.

Maybe it’s one of those eternal mysteries that we’ll never know the answer to.  And you know what?  That’s okay.  We know root beer floats are good.  We know they’re one of the best things it’s possible to have on a warm summer day.  Maybe that’s all we need to know.

As I think about it, there are a lot of things in God’s world that have no real reason for being, other than that they’re beautiful and/or enjoyable.  The colors of a sunset.  The perfect roundness of soap bubbles.  Roses.  The brilliance of a field of sunflowers.  Baseball.  Music.  Why not root beer floats, too?

Maybe that’s the better question to ask.  Instead of wondering why root beer floats, maybe the better question is, why not root beer floats?  Or, maybe the better thing is to not ask questions about root beer floats at all.  Maybe the better thing to do is just accept that root beer floats exist and enjoy them, rather than wondering about them.

In fact, that’s probably the best approach to take to all of the blessings God gives us.  Instead of wondering why God gives them to us, or instead of asking why God chooses to give them or not give them, maybe we should just accept God’s blessings and enjoy them.  After all, as I’ve said before, God is not a problem we have to work out or a puzzle we have to solve.  We’re not asked to understand God.  We’re asked to accept God’s blessings, serve God, and love God.

So, this summer, make sure you take the time to have a root beer float once in a while.  Not every day—there is the problem of too much of a good thing after all—but once in a while.  When you do, think about the incredible love of our awesome, wonderful God.