I have a friend who watches 6 very young children, give or take one or two, each day. There are several reasons I am glad she is helping raise these children. 1) They will be introduced and get to know God. The world needs for our children to be introduced and know God. It would be a much nicer place. 2) She tells such wonderful stories about them, about her experiences during a typical day with them, about how they understand or misunderstand what seems to be simple things. 3) She shares photos from their journeys outside. Many times these are very innocent glimpses of childhood. 4) I learn a lot from her stories and experiences. This post is about one of the things she has told me.
As I said, she has anywhere from three to six children, all under two years old in her care. Think about the diaper changes alone. She has a plan for this. By the time they are a year old, she has already started potty training. She starts so young because as she says, "they don't have will yet. They just do as they're told. Two is too late. They figure out by then that they don't have to sit on the potty chair until I say they can get up!"
Today, she sent me a picture of three of the children "in trouble". Apparently they went where they are not permitted to go. So she had them stand in time out. Notice how they all have their noses to the wall? They are doing exactly what they were told to do, or what they thought they were supposed to do. I said something about how they were all staying away from each other, noses against the wall, not looking around or at each other. She said, "they just do as they're told."
So I was thinking. I wonder if there was ever a point in our lives that God could just tell us what to do, and we'd just do it. A time when we didn't have or know about our own will. I wonder how many times God tells us to do something and we will ourselves not to do it. We think it is beneath us like Naaman in 2 Kings 5:10 (Elisha sent a messenger to say to him, "Go, wash yourself seven times in the Jordan, and your flesh will be restored and you will be cleansed." Naaman thought this task was too easy or lowly.) Or perhaps we think it is our idea instead of God's. Maybe we choose to ignore God out of fear, selfishness, or just plain will. We don't accept God's will. We exert our own.
If only God would have trained us before we had will and knew. He told them not to eat from that tree right from the beginning but they did anyway (Genesis 3). How can I give my will back? How can I do as I'm told, all the time, every time?
Father, break any will in me that needs to be broken for Your purposes. I realize this is scary. What will You have to do to break me? What will I have to do to give it up? I want to trust you completely. Help my trust. In Jesus' Name. Amen.
As I said, she has anywhere from three to six children, all under two years old in her care. Think about the diaper changes alone. She has a plan for this. By the time they are a year old, she has already started potty training. She starts so young because as she says, "they don't have will yet. They just do as they're told. Two is too late. They figure out by then that they don't have to sit on the potty chair until I say they can get up!"
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| Used by permission. |
So I was thinking. I wonder if there was ever a point in our lives that God could just tell us what to do, and we'd just do it. A time when we didn't have or know about our own will. I wonder how many times God tells us to do something and we will ourselves not to do it. We think it is beneath us like Naaman in 2 Kings 5:10 (Elisha sent a messenger to say to him, "Go, wash yourself seven times in the Jordan, and your flesh will be restored and you will be cleansed." Naaman thought this task was too easy or lowly.) Or perhaps we think it is our idea instead of God's. Maybe we choose to ignore God out of fear, selfishness, or just plain will. We don't accept God's will. We exert our own.
If only God would have trained us before we had will and knew. He told them not to eat from that tree right from the beginning but they did anyway (Genesis 3). How can I give my will back? How can I do as I'm told, all the time, every time?
Father, break any will in me that needs to be broken for Your purposes. I realize this is scary. What will You have to do to break me? What will I have to do to give it up? I want to trust you completely. Help my trust. In Jesus' Name. Amen.
LOL Who would have ever dreamed there was a lesson or message in the little funnies I share. -DE
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