Last night, Josh was getting ready for bed, putting his pyjamas on, when I was struck by one of those "moments". We're trying to teach Josh how to do up buttons at the moment, but before we got to that, Josh asked me to help him put his top on (knowing that the button thing was next). I said to him "no, you can do it", to which he replied "help me, Dad".
My first instinct was to do it for him - put his shirt on, do up his buttons, but a remarkable thing came out of my mouth instead. I said "No, you do it - I am helping you, Josh". I knew that I wouldn't actually be helping him if I did it for him, but would be helping him far more if I helped him learn how to do it.
I immediately wondered how many times I call out to God, "help me, Dad". I also pondered how often God's first instinct is to take away our pain, remove our suffering, fix our problems, but in God's infinite wisdom, he chooses not to - knowing we learn far more by working through it ourselves, and that we can't become whole if someone always does up our buttons for us...
Good thoughts. Too often people have an understanding that if God is present in their life then He will do everything for them. But (as you say) God is there to "help us", by teaching us and encouraging us to participate fully in the life that God gives us each day.
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