My son enjoys making bracelets out of brightly colored rubber bands. Creating them requires a special contraption with rows of pegs. He uses a specially designed hook to grab the rubber bands and connect them from one peg to another. It requires a fair amount of dexterity. He is always so proud of his creations, and he generously shares them with his family.

One day, he was attempting to make a particularly complex, and beautiful, bracelet. He was getting frustrated trying to manipulate the weaving hook with his young fingers to grab the rubber bands and work them into the intricate pattern. He handed the hook to me and asked for my help. Each time I would attempt to hook the rubber band, he would get impatient and grab the hook out of my hand and try it himself, only to fail again. After his fourth take-back, he gave up on making the bracelet.

I think this is how we tend to approach our relationship with God. We ask for His help, and, yet, we don’t give Him control. We keep stepping in and taking it back. We then wonder why our lives continue to be mired in frustration and unfulfilled dreams. When we ask for God’s help, we need to turn over our lives to Him and trust the He will guide us to the life that is exactly as he designed it to be: sometimes complex, always beautiful.

He saved us and called us to a holy life, not according to our works but according to his own design. – 2 Timothy 1:9

Originally posted 2018-06-14 00:30:02.