Is Your Mess God's Fault?



Dan’s been in Canada with his family for the last week, so I’ve been getting glimpses of single parenting here on the home front. My hat is off to all you single parents out there. I’m so glad that Dan will be coming home soon. I don’t know how people do it. Yesterday my youngest, who I refer to as Jr, and I had a bit of a scuffle in the morning. She had to get her clothes out for school, and I discovered that instead of putting her clothes back in the proper drawer like she was supposed to be doing she’d just been randomly shoving them in the drawers without paying attention to what goes where. It’s an issue we’ve had with her on numerous occasions. I’ve organized those drawers and reorganized them. I realize no kid is perfect, but we had to get to school. So I took out every article of clothing in her drawers and put them on her bed. When she got home she had to organize it and put it back into the drawers.

She was looking at me crying as I did this, internally I was getting so upset. I felt horrible. I realize she needed to learn a lesson, but I could tell she was thinking “Why are you being so mean mom?” I wasn’t trying to be mean but to teach her a lesson.

When I went to sit down and spend a few moments with the Lord, I asked him “What could I have done differently?” “Could I have handled that better as a parent?” and “How can she be mad at me for this? This isn’t my fault but her choice?” I felt so internally conflicted about the whole situation.

That’s when I felt the Lord whisper to me, “Now you know how it feels when my children make bad choices and then they blame me for the consequences.” Suddenly it was as if a light bulb went off. I knew God was right. How many times do people do just that. They use their free will do what they want, and then get mad and blame God when things happen. It wasn’t God’s fault just like it wasn’t mine when Jr got in trouble about her clothes. The actions were the result of poor choices.

Free will can sometimes be seen as a tricky thing. Does God have mercy and favor on poor choices. Yes, he does. Later when Jr came home and after I explained to her what I wanted her to do and she again wadded everything in a ball, and again got in trouble, on the third attempt I did come and help her. I knew by this point the task just seemed to overwhelming. But I made her do most the work. She had to learn this lesson. God is often the same way with us. He’ll help us, but He’ll also allow our poor choices to teach us not to make the same mistake again.

Remember God has awesome plans for your life. Get excited!

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