As Thorns to a Child

Can you remember how you felt about pain when you were really little? Didn't it seem like such an awful thing? Of course pain still hurts, but small children seem to hate it worse than the more experienced people.

I was reminded of this one evening by my little sister. I was watching Amy play in the yard by herself while Bethany and Phillip played on the swings a little distance away. Since she was playing bare footed on grass that was not free of sticks and stumps, she soon got into some thorns that pricked her little feet. After calling several times, Bethany came to help her out of the situation. Once Bethany got over there she was going to pull the thorns out but to Amy this was not the solution. All she could think about was right then, and right then it would hurt to pull the thorns out. Bethany asked, "So what do you want me to do?" Amy replied, "I don't know!" Eventually, after I explained to her that once she pulled then out it wouldn't hurt any more, Amy let her do it. Just like I had told her, she only felt the pain for a few seconds.

Sometimes in the Christian life I feel just like Amy did. When I find myself in an unpleasant situation I cry out for God's help expecting Him to take care of things the easy way. When he provides a way out I cry, "Not that way Lord! Do something else!" Then, when I search my heart, I realize that I don't know what I want God to do . . . but I want Him to do something. Just like Amy, I can't see how this will affect me in the long run. All I know is that I don't want that the way it looks now. But God knows what the end will be and He knows that I will be happier if I let Him do things His way.

So what do I do? In times like these, the best thing to do is follow what our Lord said and, "Be still, and know that I am God." Often times it is when we stand still that God will help us get the thorns out of our feet.

Then I think again about what Amy was so afraid of: the pain of a little thorn. It was so simple, she really had nothing to be afraid of. Do I have anything to be afraid of? In five or ten years, will this hard time I'm going through seem as big as it does now? When I start my everlasting life in Heaven, will I even remember this as being trying? If I had been there when Jesus Christ was brutily crusifed on the cross, would I complain of this little trail? I belive I would look at it all and realize that my pain is as little as thorns are to a child. Truly they are.