Sometimes I think God needs my help, that the Ruler and Creator of the universe needs me, the frazzled mom in the SUV, to help Him get ‘er done. Laughable, yes?
Do you do it too?
I seek God’s guidance in my life and earnestly pray for it: Lord, keep me in Your will. I trust Him and I know His plans are more perfect — and certainly more well-informed — than mine.
But our timetables aren’t always the same, and therein lies my trouble.
My thoughts sometimes sound like this: Lord, I think I see Your ultimate plan here, so I’m going to nudge things along to help You out. Maybe we can resolve this a little faster, okay?
And surely God shakes His holy head at my foolishness, my misconceptions, my lack of faith, my failure to trust that He is in control. My intentions are good. I mean well, really I do. But in rational moments, I know there’s nothing I can do to assist God.
He doesn’t need my help.
We’ve heard the stories of how helicopter parenting harms children. God doesn’t helicopter parent us, hovering overhead, over-controling or overprotecting. Sometimes He allows us to either spin our wheels or bounce off of obstacles-of-our-own-making, like whiplashed drivers in the bumper cars at the county fair.
Some of us are slow learners.
Trying to assist God is not only unnecessary but exhausting.
Jesus tells us:
“Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.” {Matthew 11:29-30}
Jesus offers us rest, a lighter load. When we shoulder responsibilities that were never ours to bear, our burdens weigh us down.
I’m writing to myself as much as to you, offering us four simple but radical steps to change our hearts and heads:
1. Let go of the notion that you need to fix your church, your friends, or your husband; deal with your own faults.
“Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother’s eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye?” {Matthew 7:3}
2. Serve without expecting to be served.
“And whosoever will be chief among you, let him be your servant: Even as the Son of Man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give His life a ransom for many.” {Matthew 20:27-28}
3. Love freely, for God loved you when you were unlovable.
“But God demonstrates His own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” {Romans 5:8}
4. Forgive easily, as God forgives us for Christ’s sake.
“Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you.” {Ephesians 4:32}
Err on the side of grace and mercy, ever-thankful that God grants them to us.
by Dawn Camp @ My Home Sweet Home, editor and photographer The Beauty of Grace
[linebreak]