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.
