When we try to get things done on our own, we really make a mess don’t we?
Sometimes three year old daughter says to me, “daddy, your so strong.” She is so sweet, however she too has those just get it done kind of moments. Trying to unscrew the lid off a jar of peanut butter, she can get so frustrated, but she wont ask for help, as if I her big strong dad isn’t there or capable of opening it. She says, “I can do this all by myself.” Her face distorts, she starts to make loud squeals and pouts, her frustration is about to get the best of her. Would you like to know what I said? “Let me help you.”
Here I am just sitting in awe while I watch my frustrated daughter; I want to fix the problem for her, but more importantly I want her to know her father is right here. I want her to understand that she doesn’t have to do this by herself. Doesn’t she know I love her, that I would do anything for her? Of course I want to help her open that jar, but more importantly I want her to learn to trust me, to allow me to be there for her, to help her, to give her my strength and direction. I wanted her to learn to hand it over to me.
Have you ever had a “just get it done” kind of day? The day that just seems to go nowhere unless, you make it happen through pure will power and personal strength. The task can be brutal, staying up with a baby all night, because he just can’t go to sleep. It’s never fun having to put up with an uncooperative coworker. That ministry area, “no one wants to help me, I can’t get any volunteers.” In those moments we feel all alone and frustrated, we begin to think, “How can I get out of this? No, I said I would do it; I can do this all by myself.” We act as if God doesn’t notice, as if he doesn’t care. It’s as if He too is a non-volunteer in our ministry, not a team player at work, or possibly another detached member of the family. Does our pain escape His notice? No, in reality, God is saying, “let me help you; hand it to me.”
1 comment:
Your comments remind me of a few comments recently heard while listening to our local christian radio station. Many of us have heard the song "Jesus Take the Wheel" and have probably many times in our life said these words to God. The truth of the matter though is we should have only said these words once and that was when we turned our lives over to God in baptism and acceptance of His Son as our Lord and Savior. However, our human shortsightedness seems to prevail when we take our eyes off of Jesus even if just for a short period of time. I heard a commentator on the radio say this week that God takes care of the things that we cannot. The satement is true, the flaw is in what we think is ours to handle or our zealousness of what we think we are capable of doing on our own. In 2 Corinthians 12:7-12 Christ speaks to Paul of his weakness as being a strength because of God's grace and power. Wouldn't it be great if our weakness was that we overly rely on God to handle our needs and daily struggles. Then our weakness would become the strength that Paul speaks of in 2 Corinthians.
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