A little boy was spending his Saturday morning playing
in his sandbox. He had with him his box of cars and
trucks, his plastic pail, and a shiny, red plastic
shovel. In the process of creating roads and tunnels in
the soft sand, he discovered a large rock in the middle
of the sandbox.
The boy dug around the rock, managing to dislodge it
from the dirt. With no little bit of struggle, he
pushed and nudged the rock across the sandbox by using
his feet. (He was a very small boy and the rock was
very large.) When the boy got the rock to the edge of
the sandbox, however, he found that he couldn't roll it
up and over the little wall.
Determined, the little
boy shoved, pushed, and pried, but every time he
thought he had made some progress, the rock tipped and
then fell back into the sandbox. He grunted, struggled,
pushed, and shoved; but his only
reward was to have the rock roll back, smashing his
chubby fingers. Finally he burst into tears of
frustration.
All this time the boy's father watched from his living
room window as the drama unfolded. At the moment the
tears fell, a large shadow fell across the boy and the
sandbox. It was the boy's father. Gently but firmly he
said, "
"Son, why didn't you use all the strength that
you had available?
Defeated, the boy sobbed back, "But
I did, Daddy, I did! I used all the strength that I
had!"
"No, son," corrected the father kindly. "You
didn't use all the strength you had. You didn't ask
me."
With that the father reached down, picked up the
rock, and removed it from the sandbox.
- Do you have "rocks" in your life that need to be
removed?
- Are you discovering that you don't have what
it takes to lift them?
There is One who is always
available to us and willing to giveus the strength we
need. Isn't it funny how we try so hard to do things
ourselves. Sadly, many adults who have been Christians
for years are trying to do everything themselves and
only turning to God as a last resort.
God wants to be your first resort. Let Him help you with your trials,
tribulations and temperament. He loves you so much ... all He wants you to do is ask Him to help.