Saturday, May 3, 2008

Prayers for Help!

Today I was teaching my daughter the different types of coins.  One of the things we did was put them into a plastic water bottle.  All the coins fit except for the quarter, which is how she eventually learned to distinguish the quarter from the nickel.  But she was SO distraught over the fact that the quarter wouldn't go in.  "Help," she said to me, confident I would fix it.  I said, "It's too big. It won't fit."  I showed her me trying to squeeze it in to no avail.  "Help.  Help.  Help," she kept saying.  Eventually she began to despair that I wasn't going to help fix it.  Tears welled in her eyes.  "Help!" - the cries became more desperate.  "Help!  Help!"  But the simple fact is that the world isn't made for quarters to fit into water bottle tops, and, actually, this was the very thing that was making the lesson so valuable for her.  

I began to think about how my own prayers must sound to God.  "Help," I pray, confident God will fix it.  And often things do get "fixed."  But every so often the problem remains.  "Help. Help. Help," I keep saying.  And I am sure that sometimes God is helping... me to learn something new.  "Help!" the cries get more desperate.  "Help! Help!"  But the simple fact is that as much as God loves me, more even than I love my daughter, the world is not made in such a way that quarters fit into water bottle tops, and sometimes I guess that is the point.

1 comment:

iheartchocolate said...

Good lesson. It's tough to think of at the time, but you are so right.