Strong Willed Child

This morning as I was driving Isaac to school I saw a little boy (probably about five years old) fighting with his grandma during their walk to his elementary school. 

I could see him arguing with his grandma and then he pulled away her arm roughly and he then hit her arm !! 

She scolded him grabbed his hand and they continued to walk together. 

He then threw away her hand and hit her again on the arm!! 

I wanted to roll down my window and shout out at him “hey little boy don’t hit your grandma be nice and go to school”

I was driving on the street and it would probably have been too far for them to hear me so I prayed for them.

As they continued to walk I noticed the grandma put her hand on the small of his back and she gave him her phone (probably to avoid being hit again). 

What struck me was the grandma’s tenderness in the midst of the boys naughty behavior. 

Years ago Dr. James Dobson wrote a book about “the strong willed child” 

 Many people have read the book and fell in love with the book and could scream out loud “finally someone said it!” 

A strong willed child isn’t acting naughty because he is just a sinner on his way to a correctional facility in his adult years. 

A strong willed child is fighting the flesh. A strong willed child doesn’t understand that his mom, dad, caregiver and teacher (or even coach) want the best for the child. They have a very stubborn spirit.

As I saw the grandma struggling with this little boy and with her hand gently on the small of his back making sure he didn’t get hit by cars it reminded me of our position with Christ and our Father’s tender care of each of us individually.

Many times we act just like that five-year-old boy. We are grumpy because it’s the morning, we don’t want to go to school (or parenting role) or go to a job or be with that spouse or be a homemaker or whatever it is that we do....

We are very frustrated with life and we can’t understand why this mean adult (ie., God) is making us do things we don’t want to do. 

We fuss and kick against God and His loving tender care for us. May we wrestle not against God but he yield to Him. 

I see some children smiling and almost skipping on their way to school. They are not fighting mom dad grandma or friends ....

they’re happy ...

They are content because today is a new day they have new things they are going to learn and they are simply happy to be alive. 

If we we maintain a childlike wonder in our relationship with God we will not become that symbolic defiant strong willed stubborn child. 

Instead, we can be humble ourselves like Jesus in the garden and we can say “Father I don’t understand your ways, I don’t understand what you’re doing, I don’t understand why your grip on me is hard when I want to go left you tell me to go right. God I just don’t get you!  but I trust you, I choose to trust you because I know that your hand is on the small of my back and you’re protecting me from danger. you are a good shepherd and you want what’s best for me”

May we have a proper attitude toward the Lord’s correction and direction. 

The Lord desires to make the crooked path straight but are we ready to receive that? 

Many times it becomes dark before the breaking forth of sunlight in the morning. 

How many of you are praying for a breakthrough? 

God is not so concerned with the prayer request as he is concerned with the child saying the prayers. 

God wants to mold you and shape you. 

Yes God indeed wants to answer your prayers but we must first trust Him, His timing and His ways. God’s ways are so much bigger so much more magnificent than our human mind could ever understand. 

Think about it ....a kindergartner probably doesn’t really understand why they have to go to school. Why do they have to get up, put clothes on, put shoes on, sit in the classroom for six hours a day and go through this whole process? 

It could be very confusing. 

As an adult we can be confused with the things that touch our day. We must remember that God is Father, He is the teacher, He is our caregiver, He is our provider, He is our everything. He is our best friend. He wants to hear all of our secrets under the tree...He wants to know everything that makes us tick.

He wants to know our dreams, He wants to know our nightmares-Nothing scares God. 

I love that about our Lord! we can talk to Him about anything and everything and trust His tender loving care to less.  

Lord help the strong willed child in me to settle down, and help the obedient loving willing student in me thrive!