A Walk to Remember

I have been dealing with a lot of interesting things lately. The Holy Spirit has been dredging up things from deep within me and gently working with me to correct those things. It has been hard and exhausting. But today on my walk back from lunch, I saw one of the RD's (I think) and his little girl. She couldn't be more than two years old. She is so small and precious. She gave me baby fever, honestly. But she was crying like someone had just snatched her favorite toy away. Her dad gently said "Honey, you're gonna have to walk." He held her hand but he was forcing her to walk when she wanted to be picked up. It would have been easier for him to just sweep her up into his arms and walk across the courtyard. But he patiently walked with this crying young'un (North Carolinian speak for 'young one' lol), as he was slightly stooped so that his arm would reach hers and he continued coaching her.

Immediately the Holy Spirit said "See? That's how the Father is with you."

It would be easier to just do the thing that would shut me up, to just give me what I wanted. But I wouldn't be learning. On the Andy Griffith Show, Andy Taylor tells his son Opie "You need to be able to learn to stand on your own two legs." God will never make me actually go alone. He will be, in reality going out of His way by stooping down so I can reach Him, coaching me so that I will be quieted with His love and patiently going at a pace I can keep up with. His timing isn't mine. Just because I think I'm ready for a marathon doesn't mean I am. He knows that and He has made me go slower. He doesn't always (or hardly ever) does what is easiest. But He most certainly always does what is best.

The end of the story? The little girl became content to just be walking through the courtyard holding her father's hand. I think sometimes my problem is that I am so focused on the fact that God isn't doing what I think He should be doing (don't shout me down now!), that I forget to be content in knowing that He holds my hand. The God of all heaven and Earth. The God who called things into being takes time to love on me and talk me through things. When that little girl is older and is able to walk without stumbling all the time and can eventually run, she won't even be able to remember today. But without today that won't be possible. These are light and momentary trials but there is a glory that far outweighs them all (2 Corinthians 4:17).