Spinach every day

Imagine that your child or grandchild approaches you with these statements:

“I love you so much.  You are so good to me – you take care of me, feed me, clothe me, make sure I’m safe.  You are always being good to me and I know that you love me so very much.  I want to please you.  You are so wise and know so much more than I do.  I trust you and I will do whatever you want me to do because I love you.”

How many of you would respond with:

“Aha!  Well, now you are going to have to eat spinach or ____________(insert the food most likely to make that child gag) every day!  I know you don’t like it but it’s good for you.  So you’ll just have to learn to like it.”

Not hardly.

So why is it that we are afraid if we go to our Father and surrender ourselves to Him knowing that He is wise, good, loving, merciful and perfect, that He will automatically make us do something we strongly dislike or even makes us gag???  We hold back from an absolutely committed life with Him because we fear He will take us where we don’t want to go and we will spend our lives doing something we don’t want to do.

If you then, evil as you are, know how to give good and advantageous gifts to your children, how much more will your Father Who is in heaven [perfect as He is] give good and advantageous things to those who keep on asking Him!  Matthew 7:11

We endeavor to be the best parents and grandparents that we can be.  We are good to these young lives and while fulfilling our responsibilities to teach and train them, also want their growing experience to be enjoyable.  We desire to be good and give good to them all the days of their lives.  So if we, as fallible human beings, can do good to them, HOW MUCH MORE WILL GOD GIVE GOOD TO US???

Let’s take this spinach theme to the next level.  What if you discovered that this child that you love more than words can describe really needed the nutrients provided in spinach every day for their bodies to operate at optimum capacity?  If you are like me, you would be researching all the possible recipes that would make spinach palatable to their taste buds.  (I’ve actually discovered a smoothie recipe that tastes like ice cream yet it’s made with vegetables!)  You would begin re-introducing spinach to them from many different perspectives and training them to actually like spinach!

Trust (lean on, rely on, and be confident) in the Lord and do good; so shall you dwell in the land and feed surely on His faithfulness, and truly you shall be fed.  Delight yourself also in the Lord, and He will give you the desires and secret petitions of your heart.  Psalm 37:3-4

Spending time with Him and learning about His faithfulness is how we are to be fed – satisfied.  When we focus on His goodness and faithfulness we delight in Him more and more.  And our delight in Him opens our hearts and minds, allowing Him to create in us right desires and then fulfill them! God will create in us a true desire for His will when we allow it!!!  We will discover that going where He wants us to go and doing what He wants us to do is the sweet spot!

There was a time that I could not imagine leaving the professional position I held.  It was very satisfying work and I knew without a doubt that God had placed me there.  But I also knew when He was calling me to leave.  It wasn’t easy.  I could not imagine that I would enjoy anything as much as I had that particular job (and that particular pay check!).  But it came time to put action to the words I had professed:  I belong to Him.  Stepping out in faith gives us a totally different perspective on whatever it is He has called us to do.  And there is nothing more satisfying than knowing you are right where you need to be, doing exactly what you are called to do.

We all want to live in the sweet spot.  There is only one way to find it:  trust Him and go where He leads.

Lean on, trust in, and be confident in the Lord with all your heart and mind and do not rely on your own insight or understanding.   In all your ways know, recognize, and acknowledge Him, and He will direct and make straight and plain your paths.  Proverbs 3:5-6

Spinach every day?  Not a problem for me because I really like spinach.  Cucumbers?  Another story.  They make me gag.  But I am confident that if God wants me to eat cucumbers, He will cause me to like them.  But I will never know if I don’t take a bite.