Saturday, May 8, 2010

Spiritual Temper-Tantrums

I meant to write about this awhile ago but it wasn't until recently that I sat down and really thought about the message that was shared. I was sitting in Institute a few weeks ago (institute is sort of like Bible study for those who don't know what I'm talking about). Our teacher shared this story with us that she had heard in another meeting, I will retell the story as if I heard it first hand...

I have a four year old daughter Anna who is always getting into trouble. Whether she is encouraging or participating she can't help but get her hands into something. She seems to be the worst for the three hours of church. She doesn't sit still, constantly screaming and running around. When i would try and sit Anna down or talk to her quietly, the alligator tears would fall down her cheeks and she would have one of the most high pitched screams ever (it wouldn't matter where we were either). I felt like the worst mother ever because I couldn't get Anna to understand the importance of sitting still and feeling the spirit. One Sunday morning I was pulling out a dozen of warm gooey chocolate chip cookies from the oven that I planned to take to my class. Anna came up and immediately wanted one. I decided to make her a deal, "Anna" I said, "If you can be good today in church for the three hours I will give you one of these cookies. That means you need to sit with your arms folded and listen to your teachers and to your dad and I. Do you think you can do this?" She got her normal look of getting ready to cry, "Anna if you cry right now you won't get one at all." She immediately held back her tears and said she could do it. For the four hours (30 minutes to church and 30 minutes back) Anna behaved perfectly. She sat quietly and behaved greatly. When we arrived back home, I grabbed two cookies for Anna. I felt that she really deserved a reward for how good she was today. Anna came up to me and asked if she was good enough for a cookie. "No Anna...." (she couldn't see the two cookies in my hand) Immediately the alligator tears formed and the high pitched scream took over. She sat on the ground and pounded her fist. "Anna, " I said "I was going to give you TWO cookies because you were so good, but you were to quick to assume what i was going to say, and now you don't get any."

My teacher added in her thoughts around this story... we at times have our spiritual temper-tantrums. We don't wait to see what the Lord has in store for us because all we hear is "No". How many times do we throw temper tantrums because we aren't at the point in our life we thought we would be or because we haven't gotten all the blessings we think we deserve. The Lord is going to say No to us at times only because he has something better in store for us. If we would take a minute and just listen rather then jumping to conclusions we will hear that there is so much more for us!

I just really liked this story!

2 comments:

Adam and Shari Crawford said...

OHHHH!!!!! I LOVE this! Thank you. It's oh so true......

The story of a girl said...

that was a cute story! And how true it is!! Thanks for sharing it Jennie!