Tough Negotiations

One of the things that our boys like to do, is to have a small toy on their headboard at night. It is usually a lego or hotwheel or something small that will stay on their headboard without falling off.

However, this is a reward not an expectation. They get to do this sometimes...and sometimes not.

The other night our oldest son had a lego on his headboard that he had just received as a gift. As a result, our youngest began asking if he could have a toy on his headboard. It went down a little something like this:

"Daddy, can I have a toy on my headboard?"

"Hmmm, I don't know"

"But my brother has a toy on his headboard."

"Well, he just got that as a gift"

"But Daddy, that wouldn't be fair."

"Well, sometimes life isn't fair and we don't always get the same things as our neighbors"

"Please Daddy!" (ok, that is a key-word for me)

"Ok, you can have a toy on your headboard."

"How about 3 toys?"

What? Did you hear that? It didn't take long. The small innocent child was able to successfully convince me to let him have 1 toy and once I agreed (which I had planned on doing), he immediately decided to see how far he could take that.

Our relationship with our kids has always been a great example of our relationship with God. We are so child-like in our relationship with Him. We think we know, but we really don't. We are impatient as a child on waiting on Him.

We can pray to God over and over, asking for that one small thing. God please meet this need. In His timing, God will meet that need, and sometimes our first response is, "God, can I have 3?"

The thing is, I know God won't answer that challenge. However, I don't know that I necessarily want to give it up, and here is why. There are many things that I love about having a child-like innocence to my relationship with God. Having to trust in Him to provide. Innocence of things I don't need to understand. Simple excitement when I sense His presence in my life and the life of those around me.

I guess the answer (if there is one), is through maturity in my walk with Him I need to find a balance between growing in Him (by not asking for the ridiculous) and maintaining my child-like innocence in Him.

Hmmm. I wonder how I am going to do that. Any suggestions?