We bought our daughter one of those little primary-colored push car toys for her first birthday. It gets great gas mileage and holds up amazingly well in crashes, of which there have been many so far.
The other day, she got herself caught in a traffic jam. The legs of our counter-height kitchen table and its accompanying chairs gridlocked her into a standstill. With all the might a one-year-old can muster, she pushed and prodded that car in an attempt to break free to the open road.
To no avail.
My initial instinct was to jump to her rescue and free her from her dilemma. But I could tell she was close to doing it on her own, so I decided to stay put. Her frustration level mounted, but I kept my distance. It was hard. Finally, with one last exasperated twist, the car untangled from the last chair leg and she was free.
And let me tell you, the beaming glow of pride on her face melted my heart like a Snickers bar in Scottsdale.
This foray into Fatherhood has taught me a lot of new stuff about God. This particular scenario gave me some insight about how he operates.
We all have rough patches in our lives, moments when we get stuck in the weeds. Things aren’t going according to plan and we’re stuck. Adultitis gets the better of us. We work our butts off to make the situation better, but nothing seems to help. After exhausting all of our resources, our frustrations mount. Perhaps we cry out to God to save us. He certainly can, and sometimes he does. A check shows up in the mail. The idea to solve a perplexing problem presents itself, seemingly out of thin air. We find the thing we had given up hope of ever finding.
But sometimes he doesn’t step in to save the day. Sometimes he’s silent.
Even though I often wish he would step in and make things easier for me, I’ve come to see that he has the wisdom to know that sometimes we have to go through difficult situations in life in order to come out stronger, better, and more confident on the other side.
And I believe that nothing makes him smile wider than seeing us accomplish exactly what he knew we could do all along.
Jason Kotecki is a dad who also moonlights as an artist, author, and professional speaker. Jason and his wife Kim (a former kindergarten teacher) make it their mission in life to fight Adultitis and help people use strategies from childhood to create lives with less stress and more fun. Stop by www.KimandJason.com and follow them on Twitter @kimandjason
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Jason – Great post. Thanks for your perspective on God and His work. We as Dad’s have the perfect model to follow but we are limited. While it’s hard to not jump in it often is the best course of action to let our kids “learn the hard way” and give them the satisfaction of accomplishment. Helps to build those little brain waves that say “I can get through this”. I found that as I get older, I get stronger and accomplish more when I rely on God rather than going it alone. This is another learned behavior that I am studying every minute of every day. Thanks again.
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Jason – Great post. Thanks for your perspective on God and His work. We as Dad's have the perfect model to follow but we are limited. While it's hard to not jump in it often is the best course of action to let our kids “learn the hard way” and give them the satisfaction of accomplishment. Helps to build those little brain waves that say “I can get through this”. I found that as I get older, I get stronger and accomplish more when I rely on God rather than going it alone. This is another learned behavior that I am studying every minute of every day. Thanks again.
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Jason – Great post. Thanks for your perspective on God and His work. We as Dad's have the perfect model to follow but we are limited. While it's hard to not jump in it often is the best course of action to let our kids “learn the hard way” and give them the satisfaction of accomplishment. Helps to build those little brain waves that say “I can get through this”. I found that as I get older, I get stronger and accomplish more when I rely on God rather than going it alone. This is another learned behavior that I am studying every minute of every day. Thanks again.
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Thanks, Frank. Glad you enjoyed the post. We certainly all need practice in this area!
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Thanks, Frank. Glad you enjoyed the post. We certainly all need practice in this area!
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Thanks, Frank. Glad you enjoyed the post. We certainly all need practice in this area!
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Yes, He’s there, being a good father.
Your article hits it right on the head. I struggle with this at times but as I’ve grown older and a wee bit wiser I’m seeing this theme more often. I have friends struggling that think they need someone to step in and rescue them. They don’t understand that the struggle is part of the journey, part of growing, part of bringing joy into their own lives.
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Yes, He's there, being a good father.
Your article hits it right on the head. I struggle with this at times but as I've grown older and a wee bit wiser I'm seeing this theme more often. I have friends struggling that think they need someone to step in and rescue them. They don't understand that the struggle is part of the journey, part of growing, part of bringing joy into their own lives.
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Yes, He's there, being a good father.
Your article hits it right on the head. I struggle with this at times but as I've grown older and a wee bit wiser I'm seeing this theme more often. I have friends struggling that think they need someone to step in and rescue them. They don't understand that the struggle is part of the journey, part of growing, part of bringing joy into their own lives.
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Yeah, I haven’t even thought of applying the concept to friends. Maybe it’s just me, or maybe it’s pretty common among lots of people, but I often find myself in “fixer” mode. Somebody has a problem and I want to try and fix is asap. Chalk it up to the human desire to play God, perhaps? 🙂
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Yeah, I haven't even thought of applying the concept to friends. Maybe it's just me, or maybe it's pretty common among lots of people, but I often find myself in “fixer” mode. Somebody has a problem and I want to try and fix is asap. Chalk it up to the human desire to play God, perhaps? 🙂
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Yeah, I haven't even thought of applying the concept to friends. Maybe it's just me, or maybe it's pretty common among lots of people, but I often find myself in “fixer” mode. Somebody has a problem and I want to try and fix is asap. Chalk it up to the human desire to play God, perhaps? 🙂
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Yeah, I haven't even thought of applying the concept to friends. Maybe it's just me, or maybe it's pretty common among lots of people, but I often find myself in “fixer” mode. Somebody has a problem and I want to try and fix is asap. Chalk it up to the human desire to play God, perhaps? 🙂
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Yeah, I haven't even thought of applying the concept to friends. Maybe it's just me, or maybe it's pretty common among lots of people, but I often find myself in “fixer” mode. Somebody has a problem and I want to try and fix is asap. Chalk it up to the human desire to play God, perhaps? 🙂
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