“Now to Him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to His power that is at work within us.” Ephesians 3:20
My youngest daughter and family were moving this last weekend and she asked if we would watch her young boys, Coast is 2 years old and Case is 5 months. After helping move the furniture on Saturday, they left the boys with us to finish and clean up on Sunday. Having offered to help, she said there was no need, that it would only take about 3 hours for the 2 of them to finish up anyway. Almost 8 hours later!!!!
Now this is NOT a complaint or criticism of my daughters timing skills. I KNEW it would take longer because I have moved many times in my life. Most things in life take longer AND cost more… commandments 11 & 12! With a 2 year old, time moves slowly. In the middle of even the ‘funnest fun’ he would say, ‘mommy, daddy come back soon!’ We all know NOTHING can take the place of mommy and daddy… not even smiling, happy ME! Being true to form, I needed a distraction to keep him busy. As most grandparents already know… one of the greatest distractions are… COOKIES!
I keep a bag of chocolate fudge striped cookies in the refrigerator. All my grandkids know it. When I die they will talk about it! So on the rare occasions when Coast got a little sad, I’d say.. “HEY… want a cookie!??” It worked EVERY time! So much so, he started his own mantra I had to monitor closely… “Want cookie!” Which made me wonder… does Father GOD use that same trick on ME? The answer is an emphatic “Yup!”
I remember growing up with a younger brother that was complete opposite of me. He was a saver and hoarder. I was an immediate gratification guy. Later in life I had to ask God, who loves EVERYBODY, if HE had a preference. Being stubborn and willful, I IMMEDIATELY believed it didn’t matter. But as I studied and REALLY looked at the evidence, I had to admit… God is a ‘delayed gratification’ God!
The proof of God’s preference is in the history of Israel AND in the Church today. We all work and move forward toward a FUTURE where He is the King, in a Kingdom of bliss. We don’t get those awards and accolades for faithfully following Him HERE. But…we DO get cookies! It comes in the form of GRACE!
I LOVE my grandkids. I want them to be happy… not sad. Joyful… not miserable. A package of my favorite cookies from the Dollar Tree costs… well! There are 32 in a pack. That means 1 distraction costs me 3.125 cents! If a cookie does the trick… how foolish would I be to NOT offer it! After all.. My heir doesn’t LIVE here under my roof! So even if he ate half a pack… it wouldn’t kill him! News flash… you and I are not meant to live HERE either!
Life is hard. But God didn’t make it that way. We CHOSE it! His Love and Grace bought our salvation… and IT was EXPENSIVE. There is NOTHING the enemy would love to do more than to make us feel unworthy or secure in our family status! So when life gets tough, it really isn’t that hard to receive the distraction we need to get us through. JESUS CHRIST is RIGHT HERE WITH US! ALWAYS! And He PROMISES to lead us safely home. No matter HOW sad or bad we feel here! And He works EVERY TIME!
Cookie anyone????
