Get Carried Away

I woke up this morning to the sound of a frustrated child, standing at a doggy gate and yelling.

It was 3 a.m. and my four year old Caleb had decided that it was the perfect time to go for a stroll through the house with the aim of relieving himself.

However, in his sleepy haze he did not expect to come across a dog – a puppy really –who was determined to question him as to his nocturnal wandering.

I suppose it is all quite understandable. To a child – to a little one at that – a doggy gate can be quite the obstacle to overcome, and even once it is conquered, the animal behind it (even if only weighing in under five pounds) can seem to those small hands and feet like a dragon blocking the exit to some much needed fresh air.

“Caleb, push open the gate, you can do it,” I said in my most encouraging voice.

“No! She’ll get me.”

“Trust me. You will be fine. It’s only another few steps to get to the washroom.”

“I can’t! You have to carry me!”

And you know, though I want him to gain confidence and cultivate courage and learn that the dragons of this world are only as big as we make them, I still picked him up high above any danger and carried him where he wanted to go.

And it is the same with you.

We think the barriers in our lives are near impossible to move and their guardians bigger than life, so we don’t try.

And when our Lord God says, “push, I’m right here, you can do it,” our response is often feeble, at best.

We say, “I can’t,” as if this makes any sense.

“Trust me,” God insists. “It’s only a few steps to get where you need to go.”

And we, children of the most high God, the ones He loves and plans for, never take it any further.

Friends, let’s do something different today.

In that moment when you feel like you can go no further because of worry, or fear, or anxiety, or exhaustion, try acting like the child that you are.

Look to God, your Father, and say, “You have to carry me.”

And He will.

in Christ,

patrick