rika Oyen, Creative Commons
Laying in my trundle bed one night I told God I wanted to understand everything. My parents and my older sibs were watching Peyton Place. I was too young, they said, I wouldn’t understand.
I asked God a lot of questions in my bed back then. I still do sometimes. Once, He told me that all my questions and all His answers are like pieces of a giant puzzle that will all perfectly connect the instant I arrive in heaven. I went to sleep smiling knowing it would all make sense.
I no longer want to understand everything this side of heaven. To really understand something you have to get close to it, maybe even get inside it, and some things – lots of things – are too ugly for that.
God tried to protect mankind from having a knowledge of good and evil but A&E insisted, and it messed them up. It messed all of us up.
Wanting nothing could be a symptom of depression or a sign of selflessness. I used to be considered sort of selfless, but then, when I had a child of my own, I realized that God likes to give good gifts to His children. So I say, “Let Him.”
Wanting everything could be an indication of a healthy zest for life, or a sign of greed and/or selfishness.
To the latter James said, “You desire but do not have, so you kill. You covet but you cannot get what you want, so you quarrel and fight. You do not have because you do not ask God. When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures.”
I don’t want nothing and I don’t want everything. I just want to live my life taking from God’s loving hand and cherishing every good gift He gives.
This Christmas I am cherishing His gift of a Savior – The Gift above all gifts.
So, to answer the daily prompt’s question: All or nothing – which is more dangerous? I’d say it’s a draw because they both put me at odds with God.
It’s a beautiful story about hearing from God at a young age. I think it’s so much easier for children to be led of God. I pray God speaks to my children.
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I pray He speaks to your children too, Trisha. Ask them, you might get some very precious answers.
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I think this one will stay 🙂 I agree with your interpretation of your childhood chats with God because I have loved Him too since I can ever remember knowing anything. Perhaps my serious answer to this prompt would be ” Want everything God wants to give you and equally want nothing that God does not provide”. Interesting that you are a reluctant Baptist and I a practising Catholic and God loves each of us just as much.
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Thank you for your comment Anton,
“Want everything God wants to give you and equally want nothing that God does not provide”.
Well put.
Indeed, God loves us each just as much! I was a Catholic way back then in my trundle bed. My mom was Catholic and my dad was Presbyterian. When they married he converted to Catholicism. He even taught the classes that adults take in the process of becoming Catholic.
And then, when I was in first grade, my mom announced that we were not going to go to church anymore. We stopped saying grace at meals, stopped saying our bedtime prayers. I was heartbroken. I felt like we were booting Jesus from the family. “That’s okay Jesus,” I whispered to Him in my bed, “I’ll still talk to you. You can stay in our family with me.”
Over the years we gradually drifted apart. And then, after I graduated from college, He re-introduced Himself to me in a glorious way. “I remember you!” I said, with my heart beaming at my long lost Friend. We have been together ever since.
I don’t really consider myself a Baptist, though I am a member of a Baptist church. My allegiance is to Christ alone.
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Oh, My God! I so love, love the feature image! Not to mention the writings but it goes without saying.
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I cannot take credit for the feature image – got it from Creative Commons – but thanks! I like it, too.
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