Raising a toddler is an interesting experience. One of my favorite things about Zeke in this stage is his absolute honesty when you ask him how his day was. It is usually one of the first things I ask him when I get home from work. His answer usually starts with “good” and finishes with how many “argues” he had. Argues is what he calls when he talks back and throws a fit. If there is a day that he doesn’t do that (which are very rare) he will be excited to tell me he had no argues that day.
If he did throw a fit or talk back, he doesn’t hesitate to let me know he did. Most days he will then tell me, “but I turned it around daddy!” If I ask him what happened, he will go into detail about what he did (sometimes the details are a little fuzzy here). Zeke doesn’t mind to tell me about his mistakes. He doesn’t realize that most of the time I already know because Angela has told me before I got home.
I wish I had that kind of honesty with God. I wish that when God asks me about my day I would just lay it all out there, the good and the bad. It’s so easy to say that I can approach God in my beat up, broken state, but it is so much harder to actually do it. It’s a lot easier when you hit rock bottom, but what about the average day. Those are so much harder because it is easy to write off as not a big deal.
Just like I know about Zeke’s day before he tells me, God knows about mine. Yet I act like I can’t approach Him because of the things I’m struggling with. I try to mask my worries and my doubts like He doesn’t already know. Psalm 103:12 says, “as far as the east is from the west, so far does he remove our transgressions from us.” Not only does God know, but He has already paid the price for my sins and He doesn’t hold them against me.
Usually when Zeke tells me about his argues, there isn’t any guilt or shame in his voice. This isn’t because he doesn’t feel bad that it happened. It is because he has already served his consequences and knows we forgive him. I can approach God in the same way. I don’t have to be ashamed or embarrassed. I can approach God and be honest about where I am and He will love me and guide me down His path. God is a loving father who will love me, correct me, and guide me but He can only do this when I am honest with Him.
until next time…