As my twenty-month-old granddaughter pushed her plastic shopping cart through our house, she ran into the transition strip separating the living room’s flooring from that in the kitchen. It stopped her in her tracks and so she turned, looked up at me, held her hand out and said, “help!”. It was not a demand. She was not mad or frustrated. She just realized that she had come up against something she could not fix on her own. After I lifted the cart over the transition strip, she said, “thank you” and carried on down the hallway.
Unfortunately, I am not like her. My pride makes it hard to ask for help. My jealousy makes it difficult to be thankful. For too many years, I lived under the illusion that I got to where I am on my own, but the truth is that many people have helped me over the years. God has been guiding me even when I did not know it. I would be better off if I learned to ask for help and cultivated an attitude of thankfulness more often. Maybe this is part of what Jesus meant when he said, “Truly I tell you, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven” (Matthew 18:3).
We like to imagine that we are the adults in the room, but if we saw correctly we might see that we are actually the children. We have what we have and are where we are because God has guided us there. Best of all, we are never left alone. When we understand those truths, maybe asking for help and being grateful would come more naturally.
“The Lord is my shepherd, I lack nothing. He makes me lie down in green pastures, he leads me beside quiet waters, he refreshes my soul. He guides me along the right paths for his name’s sake. Even though I walk through the darkest valley, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me. You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies. You anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows. Surely your goodness and love will follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever” (Psalm 23).
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