Process

Photo By Khayla Williams

It is impossible to get my toddler to cooperate with me even when I am trying to give her what she wants. All she can see is the goal that she is after. She has no perception of, respect or concern for the process. Today, her goal was to go outside. She cried and fought me with all her strength to get through that front door. No matter how I tried to get through to her, she could not comprehend that I was giving her permission to do what she wanted. However, there are some things that must be done in preparation for her to go anywhere. 

We have to go upstairs, I have to change her cloths…and change her diaper… and wash her face… and brush her teeth… and comb her hair... All this has to be done before she can go outside. She can go. She will go. But, there is a process. And, I watch her in amazement as she fights me because she thinks that I am carrying her in the opposite direction of her goal.  She has no idea that not only is she going outside, but her daddy is taking her to the mall. She will not be confined to the fifteen by fifteen space in our front yard. She will have yards and yards of running space and the freedom to do so.

Then comes the question. Is this what I do with God? I imagine Him watching me in amazement (probably shaking His head) as I throw tantrums in my frustration because “he” is not taking me in the direction that I want to go. My eyes are fixed on the goal; I want it so badly.  Then comes a setback, a detour, derailment. Though I am doing everything in my power to reach that front door, I am being carried away in what seems to be a different direction. I am frustrated and I am angry. But, perhaps there is a process that needs to be respected. Maybe I am being cleaned up, and fixed up and prepared to be presented to the world. Maybe, as in my daughter’s case, instead of getting to go outside to run in the confinement of a tiny front yard, I am being taken to the mall where I can run free and far and safe. Perhaps I need to respect the process.