Choosing blessings over consequences

Often, children determine they don’t want to obey, or want something NOW! The child ends up sitting in time out until the bad behavior stops, often with a spanking thrown in. So, he experiences much pain and wasted time in pursuit of something the parent wanted to give in the first place. How sad to the parent when he chooses consequences over blessing, never even realizing the blessing was lost.

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How often do we miss out on God’s blessings through our own willfulness?

God loves us just as we love our children and want to give them good things.

I have often had to put something away I got for one of my grandchildren because of their behavior. I thought of them when I bought it; I imagined their face when they received it; I wanted to give it to them and give them pleasure. How sad it made me when I have to withhold a blessing from my grandchildren.

For example, I bought a new game for my "grandma bag", a bag of things I take with me for them to play with when we go to dinner or away somewhere. The kids love it, and they love finding new things in there. The kids know they are not to get in the bag. Grandma gets stuff out of it for them. They may ask for something specific (although I often trade out to have different things all the time) but they are not to get in the bag themselves. Recently, we were getting ready to go out to eat and one of my granddaughters said, "Grandma, can I play with the _______."

That was her undoing because Grandma knew the only way she could know that item was in there was if she had gone through the bag. Because of that, she did not get to play with it. In fact, it got put back in the box where I keep items for future use or things I have traded out to keep things 'new'. and it still hasn't made it's way into the bag.

Why do I care? I care because I want my granddaughter to be a good, godly woman some day. I want to teach her the right things. Because I care about her eternally, I have to sometimes say no. God sometimes has to say no to us as well, because He cares about our eternal souls, at the expense of our temporal and temporary feelings. Obedience is not just something we do to make our kids miserable, it is a safety net or a guide rail to keep us safe. When our children learn obedience, they learn the way of life. When we learn obedience to God, we also learn the way of life. Then God can give us all those blessings He's been holding in His "God bag", eagerly anticipating our expressions when he pours them out on us.

Those of you who have heard our turkey story, remember that as God was giving us turkey after turkey after turkey, I heard him giggle in fun at the blessings He poured on us that Christmas. God wants to bless us. Do we want to obey Him?