Cape billowing in the wind, Batman bolted down the street. Recovered plunder in hand, the masked crusader stopped, gazed down into the carrier of priceless treasure and exclaimed “Mom, this is AWESOME!”
As a young mother, I was averse to Halloween. I didn’t even let my kids eat candy, why would I let them go around and beg candy from strangers??? Eventually a friend convinced me that it was just a good opportunity to have fun with my kids and be a light in the darkness to the community.
Still wary of the evils of sugar, I only allowed a couple of pieces of candy after dinner each night. That is what my dentist did with her kids after all, so that seemed like a reasonable procedure.
However, a few years into trick or treating, I heard “Mom, you never let us eat our candy. All our friends get to eat all they want.” Knowing this battle was going to continue, I said “Go ahead, knock yourselves out. Eat all you want.” It wasn’t long before groans began, “Oh mom, why did you let us do that? My stomach hurts… I feel awful…” I let them explain it to me. “You knew it wasn’t good for us, but we wanted to eat candy so much that we had to learn for ourselves how it would make us feel.” (paraphrased)
Even as adults, how often do we make choices based on what we want instead of what we need or what is best? The choices may not always be life impacting. They may involve food or the books we read, how we spend our time, or how we treat our spouse or children.
Throughout scripture we see example of how God teaches his children through allowing them to “eat the candy.” In fact, the Israelites whined to God about only having manna. They wanted meat. He provided quail. They ate so much they made themselves sick.
I think the lesson is that God’s provision is enough. God is enough. He has our best interest in mind. His plans are better than our plans. His ways are better than our ways. When we surrender our will to His, we will find peace. We will find joy. We will find rest.
I am not implying that there will not be heartache or pain along the way, but in the midst of life, we might need to stop, observe our good and perfect gifts and exclaim “Daddy, this is AWESOM.”
Discover more from Soul Water
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.
