“‘What no eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor the human heart conceived, what God has prepared for those who love Him’” (1 Cor. 2:9).
Recently we celebrated my children’s birthdays with a small party at our home, where their cousins came over for some party food and ice cream cake and as a natural consequence of that birthday, my children received some birthday gifts. Because my children are getting older and because (thank God) they really want for nothing, it becomes increasingly difficult for people to buy them gifts, and so some of their cousins bought them gift vouchers so that they could buy whatever they wanted.
This was a wonderful gift for children of the age of my children because it meant that they had some autonomy in going out and spending their own “money” in buying whatever they chose.
Because my children are still relatively young and because they do not often have the opportunity to spend their own money and make their own choices with what to buy, this was a very special treat for them. While we were shopping for their gift, we considered various different options. As we were shopping, I had an idea of one way that we could make use of the gift vouchers, where I could use things I already had at home and top them up with some items purchased with the vouchers and then top up the amount and the children would end up with a very nice treat indeed. To make this plan work, I needed to ask my children to trust me. Instead of allowing them to purchase the thing they had gone into the store to purchase, I asked them to trust that I would get them something better if only they would trust me with their vouchers. In the end, after some discussion, the children did decide to trust me and I was able to help them to purchase some lovely treats, because I was able to “top up” their spending…
And I have been thinking about that today, because the way that my children trusted me to buy them gifts more wonderful than they had even imagined themselves, is the way that I should trust God to look after me.
You see, just as my children went into the store with their gift vouchers, I live my life of my own free will. And just as my children had plans for what they wanted to buy that day, I too have plans for how my life is going to go. And just as my children did not even think about the option that I had planned for them because they did not have enough money on their vouchers to actually make that purchase, so too do I not even image the wonders that God has in store for me. And just as my children decided to trust me to follow my own plan so that I could get them something more wonderful than they had even imagined, so too should I be trusting God to provide for me something that I could not even imagine…
And I have been thinking about that today… “But, as it is written, ‘What no eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor the human heart conceived, what God has prepared for those who love Him’ – these things God has revealed to us through the Spirit; for the Spirit searches everything, even the depths of God” (1 Cor. 2:9).
And that is what my children’s vouchers made me think about the other day…
For with prayer, I stand on Holy Ground where everything is clear. Here. At the Foot of the Cross.