On this day in 1950, Silly Putty® was invented.

While trying to produce a human-made rubber material, engineer James Wright came up with a gooey rubber-like substance that had a lot of bounce! While no practical use was ever found for the bounding putty, a Connecticut toy store owner immediately recognized the fun appeal of the stuff and asked marketer Peter Hodgson to help him sell it.

Hodgson believed he had a blockbuster product on his hands and began packaging the gooey substance in plastic eggs, selling them for $1. The only thing lacking was a name. After much study, Hodgson came up with a name that he believed summed up the product perfectly—Silly Putty®!

For more than 50 years and with more than 300 million eggs sold, Silly Putty has become a staple of American childhood. Silly Putty’s greatest appeal, though, goes beyond its bouncing ability. The best part is taking Silly Putty, pressing it onto newspaper, and picking up an imprint of the ink. Then you can stretch and distort the words and pictures into weird and silly shapes and images.

In a way, playing with Silly Putty is a lot like how God works with us. God has pressed into us his very image and likeness (Genesis 1:26). Obviously, we are not exactly like God. But our creativity, our feelings, and our ability to think and reason reflect God’s image. We are made with the imprint of his character—his love, kindness, patience, forgiveness, and faithfulness.

Then the fun begins as he stretches and shapes us through our circumstances and our experiences. Over time, God molds and transforms us into the godly men and women that he has designed us to be. And as we spend more time with God, learning about him, we will become more and more like him!

And we, who with unveiled faces all reflect the Lord’s glory, are being transformed into his likeness with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit (2 Corinthians 3:18, New International Version).

To Do

If you haven’t played with Silly Putty for a while, go ahead and get an egg! Have fun stretching it and molding it. As you play with your Silly Putty, imagine the ways that God is stretching and molding you right now.

Also on this day . . .

Today is Alamo Day. In 1836, the 13-day siege of the Alamo by Santa Anna and his army ended when the Mexican army of 3,000 men defeated the 189 Texas volunteers.

1475—Michelangelo was born.

1808—At Harvard University, the first college orchestra was founded.

From Betsy Schmitt and Dave Veerman, 365 Trivia Twist Devotions: An Almanac of Fun Facts and Spiritual Truth for Every Day of the Year (Cincinnati: Standard, 2005). Scripture quotations are from the New Living Translation unless otherwise noted.