Today's Revelation

Last night my boys managed to get ahold of my spare change jar that I keep in the kitchen, and next thing I knew my younger one had thrown it around the living room like confetti. Sometimes if I have one dollar bills in my pockets at the end of the day I will toss them in the change jar as well, and so among the change that littered my carpet there were also two or three crumpled dollar bills.

I only caught the tail end of this activity, but rather than flipping my lid about the mess like I usually do I actually took a step back and learned a very important lesson from what was going on at that moment in my living room.

As adults (specifically adults who carry the weight of supporting a family on their shoulders alone), it is easy to become obsessed with money. Not in a greedy Scroogey way, but just because we almost have to in order to get all of the bills paid, keep food on the table, and keep a roof over our heads. Single parents learn to become independent fairly early on and so often that independence turns into complete self reliance. I think we all have varying degrees of the "I'm the only one who won't let myself down" mentality.

The only problem with this outlook though is that this self reliance can get us so wrapped up in looking out for ourselves that we don't have room for God in our lives.

Watching my son throw loose change and dollar bills around as if they were legos made me realize that he places absolutely no value on money, whatsoever. It means nothing to him. If I offered him a $5 bill or a brightly colored sock he would probably go for the sock because the money means nothing to a child. Children have no need to worry about money, because they come into this world believing that they will be taken care of and provided for no matter what. It is hardwired into them, and they don't even question it.

It made me wonder how different all of our lives would be if we placed that kind of expectation on our Father. If we never worried or even thought twice about if we would be okay, because we just knew that God would provide for all of us the same way that our children just know that we are always going to provide for them.

Being independent is wonderful, don't get me wrong, but just don't be too independent to turn to God. He will jump at the opportunity to help you out! He knows what each of us needs and is just waiting for us to ask...