I'll Do it Myself!

I never knew what a control freak I was until my children started learning to feed themselves. Just look at those sweet, messy, wonderful faces!

Seriously, though. If you've never taught someone to use a spoon, here's a bit of how it goes. He grabs it in his hand, not holding it like you showed, but however he thinks he wants to hold it. Dips it into the yogurt or whatever he's eating, pulls it out helter-skelter so that there's no telling if anything will stay on or not, then clumsily moves it to his mouth, leaving half on his chin and only getting a small bit inside. Every fiber of my being wants to reach out and hold the spoon for him. However, if I do, he won't learn to do it correctly. And besides, he wants to do it himself. He throws a huge tantrum if I try to take the spoon back and help.
​I wonder if God looks at us like that sometimes? If He wants to just reach down and take the spoon out of our hands and help us get all the goodness into our mouth instead of on our eyebrows? No. AS adults, most of us know how to get our spoon full of food and into our mouths. But what about other parts of our life? Do you ever catch yourself acting a bit like a toddler and figuratively yelling at God, "I can do it myself!" "God, I'm worried about (insert whatever worries you here), but I can handle it. So, thanks for listening, but I'll just keep this problem for myself." No? I do it all the time. It's so hard to let go of my worries and struggles, even though I pray for them. Do I really believe God is going to help me handle it or do I keep clutching those burdens on my own shoulders? How hard it must be for Him to watch us make the same mistakes over and over again, knowing He would help if we'd only just ask. And how hard it must be for Him to watch us assert our independence, our free will, when He knows that His way is easier and better than whatever road we've chosen to go down. Just like I know in my head that my daughter dipping her peach into her tomato soup probably wasn't going to taste good. But I had to let her make that choice. And God lets us make our choices and mistakes, too. The good news is, just like we're there to pick our children up after they make a mistake or bad choice (Ew, do you really want to mix that together? Okay.), God is always going to be there to help us when we're ready to ask, too.
Matthew 11:28-30. "Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light."
So, what do you think? Do you like having yogurt in your eyebrows? Are you going to keep trying to do it all yourself? Or are you going to let God help you?