It was the birthday present from Satan. You know the one: a five thousand piece something supposedly designed for five year olds, but really created by 45 year old computer engineers with free time on their hands. My son opened it, looked through the unreadable directions, and set his jaw to the task. I waited.
After five minutes, I heard paper crunching. He looked through the directions again and turned back to the pile of indefinable objects before him.
“Do you need any help?” I asked.
“No, I got it.” He replied without looking up.
Five more minutes passed. His younger brother zoomed by with his own birthday present (a Thomas train).
“What’s that?” he asked.
“It’s my present,” my older son replied, “go away!”
“Ben,” I called from the kitchen. “Are you sure you don’t want me to help?”
“No, I can do it myself.”
Three minutes, two minutes, one minute… MELTDOWN! The partially assembled motorcycle-dragon thing hit the floor and crashed back into 5000 pieces, my three year old ran from the room, and Ben put his head down on the table.
“It’s too hard!” He confessed, his voice filled with tears.
I sat down beside him and put my arm around his shoulders.
“It’s okay, Ben. Maybe if we work on it together, we can figure it out.”
Reluctantly, he nodded and we proceeded to create some kind of Lego-animal-monster creature. Needless to say, I never purchased anything remotely close to it again. First children are always the guinea-pig kids! We learn on them, poor things.
We never have trouble like this, do we? We’re always quick to admit we need help and never take on more than we can handle, right? I think moms are notorious for holding everything in until we reach a breaking point. Either we think we can do more than we really can, or our pride gets in the way and we won’t admit we need help. Oh that rotten pride!!
It’s just the same as the thought of a man not stopping to ask for directions, we don’t stop to ask for help. Instead of seeking geographical directions, we need emotional directions. Guess what? God has the map and the GPS too. Not only that, He will be our driver on this road of life.
What mother doesn’t get overwhelmed with the tremendous responsibility of taking care of these impressionable little ones? It is a daunting task crammed with millions of little opportunities to bring our children closer to the Lord or show our evident humanity – maybe even both.
Psalms 46:1-3 reads:
“God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble. Therefore we will not fear, though the earth give way and the mountains fall into the heart of the sea, though its waters roar and foam and the mountains quake with their surging. Selah”
Maybe it could sound like this for moms:
God is our help and strength, an ever-present help when we are about ready to lose our minds. We will not fear, though the laundry piles to the ceiling, the toilet overflows, the sleepless nights continue, the naps stop, and the tantrums increase.
Remember, God wants to help us. He wants to calm our fears and place our hearts at rest.
He is our loving Father, waiting with open arms. In fact, he doesn’t wait at all – just like the prodigal’s son, he runs to us and wraps us in His complete love. Give your cares and worries to Him. Pray for His help and be ready to take it when it comes.
Did I tell you about the Jane Austen stories being on Masterpiece Theatre on Sunday nights?? Last Sunday was Persuasion…very good! This week’s presentation is Northanger Abbey…is that the name?