Tag: Trust

Faith, Trust, and Eeyore

“But where is he?” The panicked voice was not that of my son, but my own. You see, Eeyore is lost. He is my 4-year-old’s  favorite stuffed animal and he has not slept willingly without him since he got him almost 3 years ago.  

And now he is lost. Not just ‘I can’t find him’ lost, but possibly, probably ‘packed away and gone to storage for several months’ lost. And momma is worried.

My son, not so much. He shrugs and says, “I don’t know,” as he crawls into bed for nap time, expecting to be reunited with his Eeyore just as soon as mommy finds him. He knows from experience that this is not usually a long wait. Mommy is pretty good at finding Eeyore.

Now already in my head I can foresee the tears and sadness that will overwhelm my son when he realizes Eeyore is gone, gone. Maybe I could go retrieve him. I would have to search a lot of boxes, but maybe he is in there somewhere. Perhaps I could find a replacement and just hope he doesn’t notice that suddenly Eeyore’s head doesn’t flop to one side. All I can see is the worst-case scenario.

This is a catastrophe and the boy doesn’t even realize it!!

But he didn’t freak out. He didn’t throw a fit or worry himself silly. Sure, Eeyore might have been packed away without him noticing, but he’s not concerned. Why? Because he trusts that Mommy will find Eeyore and all would be right in the world.

I wish I could be this way with God. I have seen God take a miserable situation and bring something amazing out of it. I have watched him ‘find Eeyore’ for me time and time again. And yet, my first response so many times is to freak out and worry that I’ll never find what I thought I’d lost.

Hopefully, next time I will remember my son, his Eeyore, and the complete faith he had in me to provide for him. I’ll probably save myself weeks of anxiety and some gray hairs by remembering all the times God came through in the past.

Oh, and Eeyore? He was in the one room that didn’t get packed away, just waiting for Mommy to find him and place him back in the loving (though tight-squeezing) arms of my son.

For you are great and do marvelous deeds; you alone are God. Teach me your way, Lord, that I may rely on your faithfulness, give me an undivided heart, that I may fear your name. I will praise you, Lord my God, with all my heart; I will glorify your name forever. Psalm 86:10-12

Milkshakes beat graham crackers

The other night we went to my mom’s house for dinner. It had been a looooong week and I had already decided to treat myself to something tasty on the way home. Something frozen, maybe with cookies mixed in, and definitely made by someone else.

So when my five-year-old asked for dessert while we were still at CiCi’s house, I told her to wait. We would get something later.

“But Mommy, why can’t I have a cookie?”

“Because CiCi has no cookies.” Easy answer. “Wait till we leave and we’ll get something.”

A minute later she came back again, “But why can’t I have a graham cracker? I know CiCi has graham crackers.”

It was true, CiCi had graham crackers. And graham crackers are an excellent dessert when you can convince your children that they’re basically the same as a cookie. 

CiCi agreed that she had graham crackers and offered them to me. Looks like my five-year-old will get what she wants, right? 

But I had other plans. Better plans. I could let her have the graham cracker and then get my own milkshake on the way home. Not lying, I thought about it. But when I have something so tasty as a milkshake, I want to share it with my children, especially since it is a rare treat for them. 

I told her no. We would wait. 

My daughter did not know what she was waiting for. To her, I was the mean mommy who said no to both her dessert ideas. She wanted her treat now and she couldn’t understand why I wouldn’t give her the good thing she had suggested. After all, I had given them to her in the past. I know she likes them. So why was I holding back now?? 

I asked her, “Do you trust me?”

“Well, yeah…. but I want dessert.”

“Maybe I have something better for you in mind, you just have to wait.”

To her credit, she stopped asking then. She understood that if mommy says she has something better in mind for dessert, then there is something better coming and she does not have to keep asking for the lesser thing. 

How many times do we misunderstand God’s promises because we think we should have what we want now, not realizing he’s planning to give us something even better if we trust him? How many times does he ask us to trust him that he will work out something more meaningful than what we have in mind? And are we able to calm down and wait or do we throw a fit and demand our way?

God and I don’t operate in the same way (you should be thankful for that). So maybe he’s not quite as vindictive as me, but I think sometimes when we dig in our heals and insist on our way, he lets us have it, even if we are cheating ourselves out of something better. Because when we resist God’s leading in our lives, we are saying, “I trust me more than you.” We are telling him that those graham crackers are better than any other dessert he would think to offer. 

But if we choose to trust him, we are saying, “I know what I want, but your will be done.” And sometimes he surprises us with a milkshake. 

Proverbs 3:5-6

Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight.