Nov
18
Why?
Six weeks ago, we took in Dawn’s Niece’s daughter. Autumn is nearly 3 years old and we are relearning the toddler stage.
One thing that has particularly stood out to me in the last couple of weeks has been how toddlers love to ask “Why?”. Autumn asks, “why” to just about everything right now. If we tell her dinner is ready she says, “Why?”. If we tell her to be careful as she is climbing up a play structure she says, “Why?”. If we tell her that it is time to go to the bathroom she asks, “Why?”.
We are trying to be good parents and answer her many “why” questions with something other than “because”, but it is hard. Many of the answers to her “why” questions are beyond her ability to comprehend at this stage of her development. Her brain just isn’t capable to understanding many of our reasons. In other cases our answers relate to her long term safety or development and those answers don’t line up with her toddler values or instant gratification and living in the moment.
I have wondered if God feels like I do. Is He frustrated with all of my “why” questions? Is my spirit not developed enough to understand his reasoning or do my values differ so much from His that I can’t accept His answer?
The bottom line with Autumn is that I hope she sees my love for her and trusts that I have her best interests at heart. I will take care of her, even if she doesn’t understand where I am coming from.
I wonder if God is hoping for the same thing from us?
Previous Comments
#1 from on December 07, 2008
Great thoughts. I will be in the “why” boat soon enough:) I think it is an excellent picture of where we are at with God. At least, where I’m at with God. When I am bold enough, I ask a lot of why questions. Last Sunday Sarah and I were stuck in traffic after a long day of flying. It took us four hours to get to our destination when it should have taken 1. We were frustrated, angry, discouraged, and well, we had to take care of some basic needs with no exit in sight. WHY God? I still don’t know the answer, but God does. Even though we can’t comprehend the answers today, as we “grow up” our spirit will connect with God and find more of the answers to “why” questions.
#2 from on February 03, 2009
Why is such a powerful question. I was helping my dad on Sunday with a funeral. The person who died was a mom and died unexpectedly of a stroke. Although I didn’t know the family or the person who had died I couldn’t help but ask why. But I have found that when you ask why, God usually gives you an answer if you listen to him. Although it is not the answer you really want to hear, and it usually brings about more questions, it is an answer and we as humans cannot comprehend all of Gods reasons right now but eventually we will have an eternity with him to find all the answers.