It was a cold, rainy night. My husband was working late, so when it came time to make dinner, I wasn’t overly motivated to pull out all the stops. Soup and grilled cheese, I thought. Everyone likes that and it’s super easy.
I had recently made tomato soup kind of from scratch (there were still canned tomatoes involved) and I thought everyone had liked it, so I proceeded to make it again. Bread. Cheese. Soup. Voila! Dinner is served.
The five of us sat down to eat. Conversation went around the table and eventually I noticed that my 9 year old had that look on her face. The one that says, “I am utterly disgusted by the food my mother is forcing me to eat.” So I asked, “Everything alright?” Her reply, “Yeah, it’s good. It’s just that I don’t really like chunky soup.”
My gut response: What?!? Don’t you know that I made this for you? I hate it when you’re ungrateful!
What I said was, “I made this for you. It is good and it’s good for you. I would never serve you something that is bad for you. This is what’s for dinner.”
Right then, my Heavenly Dad said, “Hey, that’s you.”
Ouch. Yes. That’s true. God had served me some things I didn’t really care for lately. A complete uprooting. A hard prune. Instead of trusting that He loved me and was providing me nourishment that I needed, that was good for me, I was dragging my feet, choking it down, and grumbling, “I don’t like chunky soup.”
Here’s the thing. I DON’T like chunky soup. God doesn’t necessarily ask us to like what He serves us. He just asks us to trust Him, to trust in His goodness. He is a good Father.
You parents – if your children ask for a loaf of bread, do you give them a stone instead? Or if they ask for a fish, do you give them a snake? Of course not! So if you sinful people know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give good gifts to those who ask him.
Matthew 7:9-11
Belinda!! I love you, and your writing!! This is awesome!!