Lesson Learned?

So you've hidden that bucket of candy ten times now. You're exhausted and frustrated from the nagging that comes along with not knowing where it is. You're now dealing with scrapes and bruises from the climbing that has come along with the desire to find these mouthwatering delights. Many tears. Oh, the tears. Finally, you master bedtime in spite of a day filled with playing this game. Before going to bed yourself, you leave the bucket of candy on the kitchen table. You hate to give in and give them what they want. You cringe at the thought of them eating candy for breakfast just because it's available. But, you know that sometimes, it's just best to learn the hard way. Some things are best learned through an experience.

As expected, the living room is covered in wrappers when you wake up. Everywhere. Even sharing with the dog. But you know, they are learning. It may take a few times, but they are learning. Learning that too much candy will make their stomach hurt. Dogs cannot handle chocolate very well. Cleaning that mess up and dealing with the pain from too much candy was not worth it… until. A few days have passed. They've forgotten. Forgotten how bad they felt from indulging. Forgotten the smell left behind by the dog getting sick.

Back to square one.

If there's one thing that reading through the old testament has taught me, it's that just because God gives his children what is asked, doesn't mean it's what he intended for us. He may give us what we want to show us that it was not the right time, he actually has something better planned if we would have just waited on his timing, or maybe to teach us that we don't know what's best for our life; he does.

It's a whole lot of learning the hard way. We often think that trusting in the Lord with every detail of our lives is hard and I'd agree. Many times it is because we're constantly faced with the many ways the world tells us that doing what we want and when we want is the way to go. But, we tend to forget the consequences of doing what we want before seeking guidance and being patient with God.

We tend to work so hard and go out of our way for things because we want it on our timing. We get scrapes and bruises along the way just to find out when we've gotten what we longed for, we weren't ready for it.

What's your bucket of candy?

Parents don't always know best but most of the time, they do. Just like the Lord knows exactly what's best for us.