Wednesday, September 5, 2012

"I Do it Myself!": Lessons from a spirited toddler.


Some of T.’s favorite treats are those applesauce pouches that they sell in the baby food section of the supermarket.  I didn’t discover these until recently and they are a complete hit with her.  Today I took one out for her and she wailed when I began to unscrew the cap.  Knowing that a complete tantrum would ensue if I actually opened the thing, I handed it to her cap on.  She proceeded to spend the next thirty minutes trying to get the top off her self.  She gnawed on it, attempted to unscrew it with her uncoordinated fingers, threw it on the ground, and stomped her feet.  Every time I tried to take it from her to take the top off, she screamed.  I knew she wanted the applesauce, but she wanted to get to it BY HERSELF!

As I looked at her and inwardly laughed at the mayhem she was causing for herself, I began to think how we’re all so similar to this.  There are so many situations where God wants us to trust Him to do something for us, and all we do is kick and scream and try to the things ourselves.  I’ve done this countless times.  In the end we give up and let Him do it and when we look back on the whole debacle we think, “It would have been so much easier if I had just let God work on my behalf from the get go.”

Eventually T. exhausted her efforts and let me open the applesauce.  Ah the sweet joy in her smile was priceless when she tasted the fruit after so much time trying to get to it!

In the same way I so badly wanted to help my daughter, God wants to lift the burden in our lives of trying to do things in our own strength.  He is our Heavenly Father and just like earthly parents do for their children, He wants to do for us. 

“Blessed be the Lord, who daily bears our burden…” Psalm 68:19 NASB

“Cast your burden upon the LORD and He will sustain you; He will never allow the righteous to be shaken.”  Psalm 55:22 NASB

He wants to help us.  But we have to let Him.

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