lean out

(originally posted 1/6/08)

This week I watched Elia, my niece, for a few hours while her dad helped Brandon set up the boys’ swing set that their grandparents got them for Christmas. All three kids (Elia and my two boys) were playing very hard and had gotten out nearly every toy from every room! They were each sort of playing separately from one another and Elia had attached herself to this rocking horse pony that belongs to Maddox. It is a rocking horse but the body of the pony is more realistic then just plain wood, complete with hair and a mane and everything! You can even push the pony’s ear and it sings this song about “being a pony” and “jumping and running”. So, Elia was sitting in the living room petting the pony when she accidentally pushed the pony’s ear and made him sing. She obviously couldn’t figure out how to make him sing again and so she started fussing. I didn’t notice at first what she was doing until her fussing got so loud that it made me go over to her and find out what was wrong. She was whining and wrinkling up her nose and pointing emphatically at the pony’s mouth. I finally figured out that she wanted him to sing again. So, I pushed the pony's ear and walked away. The pony sang his little song and then again the whining and fussing started up. After repeating this process two or three times, Elia eventually quit crying when the pony would stop singing and instead would simply lean over and stare at me until I would come and push the pony’s ear again. She figured out that she didn’t need to cry to get her way, she just needed to let me know she was ready for the pony to sing again. 

Lesson Learned? We act this very same way with God. We know that He will come through, we know that He is aware of our needs and yet we still cry, whine, snot and throw a fit every time He doesn’t respond to us immediately. But just as Elia eventually learned she didn’t have to act out this entire scene to get me to help her we have to learn that all we have to do is turn our eyes upon Jesus and he will meet our needs. If we will just “lean out” and make eye contact with him He will answer us. No whining necessary.