I laid aside a cute t-shirt and pair of shorts for my little girl. We were planning a wonderful day with friends, to celebrate her birthday, and I knew that she would want to look her best. I didn’t tell her about the outfit because I wanted it to be a surprise. I desired to take care of her without her having to ask. I did this out of love.I was not able to keep the secret long though. My strong willed, "let’s make everything perfect" little girl asked me if she could wear a dress for our special day. My heart sank. I thought to say yes, but knew I had something new for her, something she would like (at least I hoped she would like), so I decided to say no to the dress.
She did not think this was the best answer, so she flopped on her bed in her most upset way, and started to cry. I was hurt, not wanting to spoil the surprise, but wanting her to understand I had something better for her. I told her to stop crying. In the hope of encouraging her heart, I let her know I had something new for her. Sadly, this did not please her either. She covered her ears, cried a hurt cry rather than her angry rant from earlier and said, “Mom, I don’t want you to tell me.”
I shook my head thinking, what in the world am I going to do with you. I then explained to her that her demand to get her own way ruined her present. She lost the joy of waking up to a new outfit because she couldn’t accept my "no". She quieted, accepting my words and settled down into her bed.
She received her new clothes in the morning, but miss out on the moment of surprise. The one that can only come when what you are experiencing is unexpected.
Her demand is really no different than our own. We work to make everything just "right", only to miss out on the amazing thing that could have won our hearts had we trusted the outcome to our Heavenly Father. His ways are so much better than ours. He has surprises all around us, to bring us joy and excitement, but we end up ruining their beauty because we can’t wait and we throw a fit to make sure we have our expectations met.
Our Father then presents us with His better way, and we are saddened because we wish He would have waited. In hindsight, we would have rather had it in His time. We end up hurting His loving heart, as well as our own selfish one, because we couldn’t believe that anyone could or would take care of our needs better than we ourselves could.
God doesn’t always show us our present right away. He wants to build expectation within us, so that He can surprise us with just the right thing at just the right moment. He desires to take care of us without us even having to ask. He does this because He loves us.
Which of you, if his son asks for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he
asks for a fish, will give him a snake? If you, then, though you are evil, know
how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in
heaven give good gifts to those who ask him! Matt. 7:9-11
The next time you are praying and get a “No” to one of your requests, try to avoid throwing yourself on the bed and pouting. Decide to trust that your Father loves you and has just the right "outfit" picked out for just the right moment. If you don’t wait, you might miss out on the joy that goes along with the
gift He laid out just for you.
