I hear the Lord saying, “I will stay close to you, instructing and guiding you along the pathway for your life. I will advise you along the way and lead you forth with my eyes as your guide. So don’t make it difficult; don’t be stubborn when I take you where you’ve not been before. Don’t make me tug you and pull you along. Just come with me!”” Psalm 32:8-9

With both my girls all grown up and living far away now I am beyond the days of toddler tantrums-thank you Lord!

I’ve seen some spectacular displays of willfulness in my own children and in other people’s children. I’ve often stood quite transfixed at the amount of passion and determination that goes into performing the perfect and most memorable tantrum! Alexia in particular could seriously nail it and went on to become a top drama student in her school days – no surprise there!

I’m sure many of you who have witnessed these amazing outbursts in children have seen one thing that seems to play out in every tantrum. As soon as the person who is the target of the performance is no longer engaged or even paying any attention, the show is over!

I’ve often seen a child lie face down on the floor kicking and screaming with every bit of strength they can muster up, only to take a peek and see nobody is watching, stand up and carry on behaving normally! The show only goes on as long as there is an audience.

This made me think of two things :-

Firstly – who is the audience you’re hoping to capture? Are you going all out and giving your very best performance for the boss? Perhaps it’s for your social circle. It might even be for your church. There are sadly many performers in churches today who do all they can to look the part, only needing the final touch of a polished gold halo floating over their heads to complete the picture of spiritual perfection and holiness.

In the workplace it’s often the one with performance and approval addiction that seems to get all the applause.

At schools there is always that one who relentlessly has their hand up to catch the attention of the teacher and to win the coveted title of FAVOURITE. (I know – we all hated that one 😂)

We strive for approval and feast on the scraps of it thrown down to us from the table where the “important” people sit.

I believe it’s time to look up beyond the people – in the work place, in the churches, in the government, in schools and in every sphere of life, and look higher. Cast your sight on God. Seek His approval . Do your very best for Him and not for any human being. Trust me – if it’s good enough for the God of Heaven it will be more than good enough for any person down below.

My second thought is this :- who are we trusting- ourselves or God? We can only see as far as the end of our noses yet we truly believe that in our limited vision, we know better than God who sees with unlimited vision!

A child only sees what they want right now. Whether it be toys, sandpits or friends they are being pulled away from – they want what will give them pleasure RIGHT NOW.

Picture a parent holding their little one’s hand and walking away from the desired object. The child has the other hand stretched out towards what they want, face is scrunched up looking back and the wails are deafening . Does that ring a bell perhaps? That could be you! I know it’s me more often than I would like to admit. I know what I want and I want it now! Here’s God walking us away from that, not because He’s a killjoy but because what’s ahead is far better than what’s behind. Do we take a chance and trust Him? Do we allow Him to lead us, maybe even skipping alongside Him and looking ahead with a childlike anticipation of His goodness?

I wonder where He wants to take you today? What lies ahead for you if you surrender all your precious toys, your hopes and dreams that you’ve nurtured for so long. Perhaps there’s a beautiful gift just waiting to be opened. The Giver of Life is longing to surprise you, to fill your life with good things that go way beyond anything you could ever dream up or desire for yourself. It starts with you walking in step with Him and believing that He knows best.

It starts with surrender.

“If you, imperfect as you are, know how to lovingly take care of your children and give them what’s best, how much more ready is your heavenly Father to give wonderful gifts to those who ask him?””

Matthew 7:11 TPT

“But my people would not listen to me; Israel would not obey me. So I let them go their stubborn ways and do whatever they wanted.”

Psalms 81:11-12