Teachable Moments

I love teachable moments. You know the ones I'm talking about, where you get to teach your children a deep truth about life based on an event they got to experience.

My wife and I went through one of those teachable moments last week...only we were the students, and God used our ten-year-old son to illustrate it.

My wife and I were at a day baseball game in Springfield, and our son's school had brought his class and a few others to the same game as a reward for their standardized testing. Well, as any good parent would do, we went down to his section to say "hi." His greeting was anything but a greeting. In fact, as we stood there talking to him, he continued to stare out to the field of play, ignoring his dear mom and pop.

It was one of those moments that my wife and I realized, he's growing up and doesn't want us around. He is afraid we'll embarrass him. It was kinda gut-wrenching for my wife and I.

Then, over the weekend, my wife pointed out to me that we do that to God sometimes. He's there trying to get our attention. He has something important for us, but we sit there staring away from Him, hoping He'll just go away while we do our thing.

We're all guilty of it. We say to ourselves, "Self! I have MY life all planned out. I can't let anything get in the way of MY dreams." Then, when God steps forward to grant us a life much bigger than our dreams, we give Him the cold shoulder, and justify it with "He's always trying to mess up MY plans."

Oh, but if we would listen to what God says, "For I know the plans I have for you,” says the Lord. “They are plans for good and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope." - Jeremiah 29:11

What a wonderful promise that is for us. It tells us that God has some pretty awesome things he wants to do through us, more amazing than anything we can dream up on OUR own.

The Bible tells us that Jesus is always trying to get our attention. He wants to share His plan with us -- if we will only listen.