I Did It All by Myself!

Perfect and Forgiven: Discovering Your Freedom From Shame, Guilt ...

I Did It All by Myself!

by the one whom Jesus plays with

I’m sitting on my patio this beautiful quiet morning, reading from Zach Maldonado's book, Perfect and Forgiven.

I was rereading some things as I am going to be participating in a zoom/Facebook Live event next week with him about his book.

I am reading from chapter 6, Delighted In, about when a toddler begins to walk for the first time how it’s like the Super Bowl for them. The parents cheer and praise him/her for this huge accomplishment. Then, when they begin to explore more, and fall, mom and dad are not angry at them for falling, but pick them up, kisses them, do a raspberry on their belly, stand them up, and cheer them on to keep walking again.

Are you seeing this yet? This is really a picture of us with God. He is not angry if we fall.

I'm still reading and enjoying my coffee when I hear my toddler neighbor, Will, enter his back yard. He is awake. All I hear is this: “I did it all by myself.”

I paused and examined this phrase wondering how it relates to our relationship with God since we are His children.

Little Will was excited at whatever he did "all by himself" and I know his parents were too. The interesting thing I _didn't_ hear his parents say this: "No no Will, you must do all things through us."

So what is the lesson in this for us and our Dad in Heaven? Well, scripture is clear

we can never be separated from God. It is a no-brainer that we receive all things from God and we do all things in and through Him.

But what if He wants his kids to initiate doing things on their own? What new thing is He wanting us to explore? What can we practice and get better at with no help from our “parents”? Our parents could represent our pastors, teachers, preachers, evangelists, authors, even our close friends.

What if God Himself is right here now nudging us to take these first steps, explore something new, and practice it until we are really good at it? Well, He is beloved. This is what He wants for us during this time - to be our true parent who is no longer spoon-feeding us, but wanting us to grow up into maturity in all things, yet keep that child-like excitement and teachability as a child.

So, let's become like an excited toddler out there exploring on our own knowing we are never truly alone?

Jesus called a little one to his side and said to them, “Learn this well: Unless you dramatically change your way of thinking and become teachable, and learn about heaven’s kingdom realm with the wide-eyed wonder of a child, you will never be able to enter in.

Matthew 18:2-3

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