Strong Willed Smile

I was just reading in John Ortberg's new book "The Me I Want to Be" and came across a story about a strong-willed child I thought you might enjoy.

Some friends of ours had a daughter named Shauna who was a classic strong-willed child. When she was four years old, she kept trying to go AWOL on her tricycle. Her mom could not rein her in and finally said, "Look, Shauna, there's a tree right here, and there's a driveway right there. You can ride your tricycle on the sidewalk in between the driveway and the tree, but you can't go past that. If you go past that, you will get a spanking. I have to be inside; I've got stuff to do. But I'm going to be watching you. Don't go past either one of those boundaries. or you're going to get a spanking."

Shauna backed up to her mom, pointed to her spanking zone, and said,"Well, you might as well spank me now, because I got places to go."

I'll let you apply this story how ever you see fit; as for me I'm glad that God starts with me where I am.

The Little Ball That Could

One of my favorite stories as a kid was about the little train that could. Something was so incredibly fun about repeating over and over, "I think I can I think I can!" (Gee its that where my kids get it from?) Although this story makes us all feel really good I'm not necessarily sure that it's all that true. Most of the places that I have gotten, that I am most proud of, have been with a little help from someone else. More over when I look back at where I've come from I get a sneaky suspicion that someone else seems to be in control of the wheel and I'm just along for the ride. Most of us have survived the rainstorms, although some of us are still recovering from them. Rite before they hit I was able to mow the lawn and clean up a little bit of the yard. In the process I forgot to get one of the girls small balls that they were playing with in the back yard. When I found it next it was in the front yard, on the side of a hill, under a bush.
How did it get clear out there from the back yard? It had to get out of a bucked, all the way around the house and through a batch of 'lilies of the valley'.
It was moved by water. Water filled up the bucket and floated the little pink ball out, washed it around the corner, drove it through the plants, moved it up a hill and then lodged it firmly in the bush.
It's kind of like us. We didn't come to Christ on our own, His Spirit drew us. This path we travel through this world is charted by His plan. We are empowered through the Holy Spirit. Finally, we will end in a destination that He has prepared for us.

All of this is impossible to do on our own just like that little pink ball on the side of the hill.