My 3 year old daughter loves to play PBS Kids games on my laptop. However, recently my laptop has not been connecting to our internet access but to a neighbors that gives my computer a really low signal. So, I must enter into networks and choose my internet connection every time I open my laptop.
When Emma has to go potty or if her little sister Evie comes near her, she closes the laptop to "protect" it from Evie. However, upon reopening it . . . what happens? The internet signal is low. So, I must go over and help her get the proper signal so she can play games on my computer. This exceedingly frustrates her because she does not understand about internet connectivity even though I explain it and without fail every time I must help her she WHINES, SCREAMS, and POUTS because she does not want any one messing up her game.
It has become so frustrating and intolerable that I must now correct her attitude every single time thus causing her to be even more delayed in having fun. As I was doing this cycle again tonight, I had a revelation. How frustrated must God be when we act like that???
As a parent dealing with this with just my one child I am super frustrated. I grow ever weary of helping out an ungrateful child, trying to explain the process which she is not able to grasp right now. If she would just listen and go though the waiting process even though she may not understand it then she could have fun much easier and better. I am not out to get her game. I am out to she her succeed.
How much are we Christians (including myself) like this with the Father? The Father is not out to get us. Jeremiah 29:11 (NIV) "For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future"Yet we argue and buck and prolong our time. We do not understand the process sometimes so we pitch fits and back demands that prolong the process. With Emma, if she chews me out, she gets to go take a break and then come back and try again later when she is calm. God is so good. If we mess up the first time around, He is so kind to let us take a break and come back and try again.
I guess this revelation really has hit me because I have been listening to my Dad's (Jack Frost) series on Confronting the Taskmasters of Your Life. This series is about confronting the personal Pharaohs or world systems in your life that steal your vision and your hope. It confronts impure motives, selfish thinking, and prepares you to be launched out in God’s purposes and plans.This series has really given me hope. I have never listened to it before because I remember Dad saying to people at the book table do not listen to it if you are depressed. It may depress you further.
Dad died in 2006 and my husband and I have stepped in to help my mom in the ministry. This has been like having Dad whispering in my ear help and hope and letting me know the price he and mom paid to get here. He paid it for me; like Jesus paid it for you. It gives me hope to move on. I know my floor is my dad's ceiling. So, he brought me this far like Moses - to the edge of the promised land. Now I am Joshua going into the promised land ready to expel the inhabitants and take it for myself.
