April 26, 2012

When I became a parent, life became dominated by doing things for my kids. At first they needed help with everything.  I remember the day before Karlie was born, we decided to go to the store. We just grabbed our coats and went out the door. The day after she came home from the hospital we decided to go out.  But first she needed to be fed.  Then she needed to be changed.  We had to pack a bag for her (just to go to the store). When we were finally ready to leave, I didn’t feel like going to the store any more.

In time, our kids became more independent.  I remember Mike, at one and half years old, telling Lily, who was trying to get him dressed, “I do it myself.”  But as they grew they still needed lots of assistance with things like tying shoes, homework, and driving them places.  And when they got older, the assistance they needed just became more expensive (car insurance, trips, university costs).

The other day however, I had an experience that seemed to turn the tables to them helping me.  Lily was turning 50 and I decided to make a cake for Lily.  Having a birthday cake on her birthday has always been a big thing for her.  Usually I buy one, but this was her 50th – a special birthday – and I knew it would mean a lot to her if I made her birthday cake.  The only trouble with that was, I’ve only made about two other cakes in my life.  I knew making the cake would not be too hard as the instructions are on the cake mix package.  But the icing, I didn’t have a clue what to do for that!  Well, a quick text to my daughter got me some help. She not only confirmed what flavour of cake to make, but she told me the kind of icing to make and she texted, “I’ll email you an easy recipe.”

That gave me a funny feeling.  It wasn’t me helping my daughter, it was my daughter helping me.  It was actually a pretty nice feeling.  She’s an adult now, and she’s looking out for her dad, doing things for him.  I kind of like that feeling; I look forward to more of these types of experiences.

The whole experience reminds me of how God longs to change our relationship.  Some of us spend years doing everything for ourselves and everyone else. But God wants to come alongside us and help us.  We are so used to helping ourselves, that we sometimes resist God’s help.  But having His help is a blessing.  And when we come to realize this truth, we will begin to appreciate His help.  We may even begin to seek His help more and more. You will find that God wants to help in the decisions you make, the problems you face, and the thoughts that race through your mind. He wants to direct your life.  You can resist and keep doing it yourself or you can receive the blessing He offers and let Him help.  The greatest thing we can do, is allow God to help us through life. Begin today to take Him up on His offer to help . . . with that career decision, with the purchase you are contemplating, or the life path you are considering.  We will experience the blessing when we seek Him for things we have always done ourselves.

Until next time!

Pastor Paul