Pushing Too Hard

There are times when I wonder if I’m too nice to my children! I’m definitely not the one always trying to be my child’s best friend, but there are other times when I contemplate why on earth I agreed to bail them out or sacrifice my preferences or time to help them. One such occasion happened over Christmas…As the end of the semester approached, both of my kids’ rooms had reached the irritating, shut-the-door stage. I bit my tongue through exams and then asked once for the rooms to be cleaned... to mom’s standards. Our family’s plans changed and suddenly the days before Christmas were very busy. I thought to myself, “I can either be irritated all Christmas or I can just go in there and clean Mark’s room and everyone will be happy. So, that’s what I did. Consider it an early Christmas present!It was a great idea… until Annika saw me dusting her brother’s room. Now I was stuck. I suddenly found myself committed to a second and more disastrous zone.A few days later, I tackled the obligation. Just as I thought I was home free with only the vacuuming between a completed commitment and me, I ran into some trouble. Our vacuum shows a green light to indicate when the carpet’s clean. If a carpet’s particularly soiled, it’ll show red. A few minutes into vacuuming, I still had yet to see a green light. With more muscle and speed, I re-vacuumed the section a few more times with no success. Then I had a bright idea. “The bag must be full,” I thought. Miraculously, I even had a spare bag and swapped it out with ease.With a refreshed machine, I was sure that I’d be seeing a green light within a few seconds of my efforts. No such luck. Just as I was about to give up, I slowly gave it one more push as I grabbed my laptop to walk out the room. Suddenly, the green light appeared! It took me a minute to realize what had happened, but apparently, it was all my aggressive pushing and quick maneuvering that were keeping me from the result I desired.[bctt tweet="How many times in your life do you think a little more force will get you what you want?"]Maybe because I’m writing messages right now, or maybe because I’d listened to my third Priscilla Shirer session of the day, but the third time I saw the coveted green light, I couldn’t help but apply the analogy. How many times in my life do I think a little more effort or a little more force will get me what I want? All the while, God’s waiting on me to just slow down and trust Him. He has it under control. He doesn’t even need me to change the bag or brainstorm solutions. He just needs me to storm His throne and ask Him to lead the way.I challenge you to consider the areas of your life right now that seem to keep turning up with a red light. Where are you trying to force your way? Where are you trying all the options except the One who is above all options? May you and I slow down and trust our Heavenly Father.