Doing It Ourselves

Recently, my oldest nephew, Josiah, was trying to install a new computer game on the computer, and was having no luck. I tried to help, but was told "I can do it myself." I said "ok, but Uncle Mark knows how to do it, but go ahead and do it yourself." A few minutes passed, and then "Markie...can you help me with this game?" I went over and had it running in a couple clicks of the mouse.

I've thought about that since. How like us with God. We think we know how to live our lives, and God is there waiting to help, but we try to do it our way. We think we can do it, and only after we fail, make a mess, then we turn and ask God for His help. And He has been patiently waiting, knowing we'd turn to Him. He steps up and helps, and we wish we had asked in the first place.

At least Josiah learned his lesson, and he is only eight. The next day, he wanted to play the game, and still didn't know how to get it to come on, so instead of trying on his own, he came and asked if I would help him get the game on again, and I did.

Yet we adults so rarely learn from our mistakes, and go back and try to do it ourselves again. And fail again.

Let's be more like a little kid and admit from the start we need help, and learn from our mistakes. God will help. He is just waiting for us to ask.

And a side note. Only my nephews are allowed to call me "Markie." If anyone else tries, you will have to deal with the consequences. ;-)