Chapter 4 ~ I Need Help

Here is a story I've heard many versions of. Some say it is a true story, I doubt that...

It is a fun story and I hope to share some thoughts from Chapter four after it...

Enjoy this read...

"A mom and dad were having trouble with their twin boys. One was abnormally happy all the time. The other boy found something bad about everything. After a while the parents decided to take their two sons to a child psychologist.

The psychologist claimed to have an easy cure. He placed the too happy boy in a room filled with horse manure and a pitchfork. Figuring this would cure the boy’s overly joyful spirit, the doctor told him to dig. Then he left the boy alone. He took the always crabby boy into a room filled with new toys and candy. He was free to play with it all. “That should cure him of his dark outlook on life,” exclaimed the psychol¬ogist. “We’ll come back in a few hours and see.”

When the psychologist and parents returned to the room full of toys and candy, they were shocked to see the little boy sobbing in the middle of the floor. “I might hurt myself if I play with these toys,” he cried, “and the candy might give me a tummy ache.” All the wonderful things around him hadn’t snapped him out of his pessimistic attitude.

“Well, surely your other boy will be cured,” claimed the psychologist, trying to sound confident. Peering into the second room, the adults were astounded to see the boy digging through the manure in a fury. The boy’s mom tried to get him to slow down, but he was so busy that he only paused to say, “With all this manure, there must be a pony in here somewhere!”"

Most people who know me would say that at any given time I can be the optimist or the pessimist. In my younger years the pendulum swung much farther out to the plus and minus side of the arc.

Why would I choose this story for this chapter?

Because, some of us think we're tough enough, good enough, close to God enough, whatever... enough...

And since we feel that way, it's hard for us to ask for help. Maybe you've worked with someone in your job, they never ask for assistance. Their choice of no support from fellow staff can sometimes bring more work. No matter how many times you tell them to let you or someone know if they are in need of assistance, they plunge through, like the boy in the manure, expecting a pony. There isn't one...

I don't say that to quell an optimistic outlook, I just know, from the beginning there was no pony. It was only in the mind of the boy.

And it can be in our mind. We believe we can handle life and only when we've exhausted our options (sometimes not even then) do we go to God and ask for help.

He didn't design us that way...

Then there is the other side of the story...

Some of us are like the little boy in the room full of good things. No matter what God does for us it will eventually not be right.

If we get the job, the people we work with aren't .... (you fill in the blank)...

If we get the house, someone eventually has a bigger or better one...

If we get the spouse, they don't love you or vice versa, you don't love them anymore...

If you get the ..... then ....

This could go on all day.

Our spiritual lives are then filled with "I am not good enough" or "Life isn't...." or "Murphy's Law..." or... again, you fill in the blank. And that could go on all day...

What option do you have in this mindset... Father, You are Good.... I Need Help...

Here is Max's assessment... "Life is a gift, albeit unassembled. It comes in pieces, and sometimes falls to pieces. Part A doesn't always fit part B. The struggle is too great for the strength. Inevitably, something seems to be missing. The pieces of life don't fit. When they don't, take your problems to Jesus...(pg 32)...In your case the department runs out of cash, the team ran out of solutions, or you've run out of energy. Life leaks...(pg 33),,,The mother of Jesus said to Him, "They have no wine"...(pg 33)...The punchline is clear: take your problem to Jesus. Don't take it to the bar....Don't take out your problems out on others...Temper tantrums never advance the cause. The moment you sense a problem, however large or small, take it to Christ...(pg 36-37)"

I would add, when you get to the place where you think you have no problems, you might want to go to the same source of grace, for it is often when we're up, that down is in the future...

I don't always do so well with down times, I'm learning more and more to look up during those hours...

I certainly struggle with being a little big headed when I am in the up times, I'm learning that no matter how "up" I am, looking up helps me return my perspective to this simple prayer...

Father...

...you are good...

......I need help......

I've never know of a time, ever, that I didn't need God's help. It's more apparent as I have more calendar days accomplished.

Here's to learning together, learning how to see how great God's grace is, and maybe even learn a little better how to pray...

Till next week...