This past weekend I heard my youngest daughter crying, not a painful cry but a cry of frustration. I called for her to come to me, but she continued to grunt and pant. A few minutes later she came down the hall, sweatshirt half on and her head stuck. She started to tell me, yell about how she cannot get her shirt off. She still refused to let me help and she continued to flail around. I could sense myself becoming annoyed at her hesitation to let me help her - the crying and yelling was not helping either. Eventually she let me take off her shirt and in a matter of seconds she was freed from her situation. Watching her struggle was hard, I knew I could help her but she would not allow it. (I am not saying that she was in pain or anything, but she is wrestling with her independence).
Periodically throughout the day I was drawn back to this scenario and began to think about it in a global scale. We refer to God as our "Heavenly Father," so I tried to look at it from His perspective. How many times in my life have I thrashed around, thrown a temper tantrum, and just refused to allow anyone to help me in my struggles. If I could feel myself getting frustrated by watching this happen, how does God feel about us? He loves us unconditionally, I am sure he is more disappointed than frustrated, but could you imagine what it must be like. The creator of the universe is ready and willing to help us with our struggles but we refuse. The God who placed the stars in the heaven, created all things, is willing to help you take off the shirt you have managed to turn into a prison. Though most often we refuse to let him.
We bought kites this weekend, my daughters have never flown a kite and I thought it would be a good activity for the three of us. Unfortunately the wind was not cooperating when we went to the park and I tried to explain to them that we might have to try another day or go somewhere else- in the hills or to the beach to see if there was more wind there. They were disappointed. My oldest then began to tell me that she could fly her kite here and that she knew how. She is five. I conceded and told her that if she wanted to continue to try we could, but I really did not think there was enough wind. She made a few attempts, soon her excitement turned to frustration and anger. She began to blame me for not holding the kite right, her sister for being in the way, etc... Never once did she consider that it just might not be the right day to fly a kite - no matter how bad we wanted to we needed a little more wind. We had to all sit down and talk about it and I promised that we would go on another day and try again, but I could see the frustration on her face.
How many times do we try to do things on our own, without God's help. He might be telling us to wait, that it is not the right time, but we decide to run in circles and "make it happen" on our own. In the end we become tired, frustrated, and depressed, then we start blaming everyone else for our failure. We never consider that we should have waited, we want to blame everyone else for the mess we are in.
We can learn a lot from our children...
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