In a racecar-shaped bed, there is a little boy. It’s a new morning. The sun is starting to rise and the light is slowly beginning to fill the room. The alarm on the pedestal starts beeping and the boy blinks his eyes open. Sitting up and looking around, the boy slowly wipes the sleep out of his eyes. With a sudden burst of energy, he then immediately throws his covers to the side and bounces to the foot of his bed, jumps off and heads out his bedroom door.
In the master bedroom, the boy’s father is already awake sitting at his desk as his son runs in to the room, padding across the wooden floor.
“Dad! What should I be doing right now?” asks the eager son.
“Well, how about this… go and tidy up your room and fix your bed, brush your teeth, get dressed for school, then come downstairs for breakfast.” says the father with an amused smile. And with steadfast obedience, the son goes and does just these things.
Fully dressed and ready for the day, the son comes racing down the stairs and plops down onto one of the kitchen table’s chairs and asks eagerly, “Okay! What do you want me to do now, dad?”
With a simple smile, the father replies, “Eat your breakfast, thank your mom and me for the meal, get all your things together and then watch for the school bus at the door.” So he does.
And when that bus arrives, just before running out the door, the son asks, “Dad, at school, what should I do?”
“Well, I think you should volunteer in class and raise your hand when your teacher asks questions. Make jokes with the other students so that they enjoy you but listen when the teacher asks you to settle down. Share your lunch with your friends. Play some games with kids you don’t normally play with at recess. Then come straight home after school.” And so the boy does exactly those things at school.
Later that day, back at home, the boy asks “Dad! What should I be doing right now?” And with a slight smile, the father replies “Do your homework, watch some TV, then go play outside with the neighborhood kids, visit our elderly neighbor and say hi, then come back and eat dinner, read with your mom, and then we’ll tuck you into bed.” And so he does.
And in the next morning, the son jumps out of bed and runs to his father’s bedroom…
But wait, something seems wrong in this story doesn’t it?
We so often think that we should be going to our Father for every single detail of our lives. To be honest, I don’t think that’s what He wants for us. I don’t think He wants us to stop everything and seek advice for every single time we wonder “what comes next?”
Unlike the little boy in this story, I believe that He desires to see us grow in a way that eventually, we might not need to go to Him for every single thing.
Yes, maybe now, as we are still young, we are going to Him to seek His will, but as we grow and learn more about His ways and His lessons, eventually we won’t need to actively stop and seek His guidance for everything. There will be times of course when we simply need Him and nothing else, just like how I’m sure when the boy grows up and is on his own, he will occasionally call up his dad and ask for advice.
It’s not that we don’t seek the Father’s will anymore, it’s that He has taught us and led us in a way that after time, our wills are going to naturally align with his will. In the end, I think that’s what He wants for us.
Just like how I’m sure the father in this story is going to raise his child up in a way where his son will grow into a man that can make his own decisions with his father’s teachings in mind, our Father desires to see us grow in a way that when we make our own decisions, our wills will be so much aligned with His that our decisions are His decisions.
