Stuck

About six months ago my son moved from his highchair to a booster seat. We would buckle him into the seat and scoot him up to the table to eat. He started wanting to buckle himself into the booster seat, which was difficult because he had trouble clicking the latches together. When he finally learned how to do it, he was ecstatic!

Every time we would try to buckle him in, he would throw a fit. He wanted to do it all by himself. He continued to buckle himself in every time he sat at the table, even when it was apparent that he no longer needed the support. My son didn’t care. He liked the comfort and the routine of it. However, there was one problem: He did not know how to unbuckle himself.

My son is a slow eater, so sometimes I would leave him at the table so I could wash the dishes or change his baby brother’s diaper. Many times I would hear him yelling, “Mommy, I’m done! Help me, Mommy! I’m done eating!”

He wanted to get up and do something else; but because of his routine of buckling himself into the booster, he was stuck. This example reminds me so much of us as Christians. We cling onto a routine or tradition so tightly that when God moves us in another direction, we’re stuck. We don’t know how to unbuckle ourselves from what we are comfortable with.

I wonder how many times we miss out on God’s awesome plan because we continually go back to what is comfortable. We strap ourselves into the same situations, and then we scream out to God to get us out of them. Feeling comfortable, secure and protected is wonderful, but sometimes we need to feel those things in God alone and not our routine.

Memory Verse:
“And he said to them: “You have a fine way of setting aside the commands of God in order to observe your own traditions!”
– Mark 7:9 (NIV)

Prayer Prompt:
“Lord, please help me not get too used to a tradition or routine that I’m unable to move when You call me. What is most important to me is pleasing You and reaching Your lost children, that You love so dearly. Help me to recognize any routines that have caused me to lose sight of Your will, starting with…”

Contributing Writer:
Alisa Hope Wagner
Faith Imagined