Jesus is not Santa Baby
Through various circumstances I ended up not being on the schedule at work this week. It was a bit of a shock to come back to that after Thanksgiving, but it is yet again another instance of God knowing what I need more than I know what I need. I have picked up a couple of shifts this week, but it has been nice to decide when I want to work. It is another reminder that God is my Provider always.
This was my first week of doing clinics two days in one week. I had a full day on Wednesday and a full day on Friday. In fact, I only have 2 openings before the first of the year. Needless to say I am busy and will be for the rest of December. So having this last week a little slower on the work side of things had really freed me up.
For instance last night I had a spontaneous evening of hanging out with old friends who I don't get to see very often. It was such a blessing to my heart to be around them. It was like old times for a night, and it did me a world of good. Isn't that what everyone longs for at this time of year, to be with the ones we love and care about? We just spent hours laughing and talking and being with each other. What a blessing!
I also had a thought this morning when I was listening to Christmas music on the radio. Madonna's version of Santa Baby was playing (her's really isn't my favorite), and I realized that I think sometimes we tend to treat God like He's our Santa Baby instead of the all-powerful, all-knowing Creator of all things including us. We take to Him our list of things we want, expecting him to check them off because we've been "good" this year. We tell Him we believe in Him and yet we want to see if He believes in us. We expect good from His hand because we are His children, and I mean it is Christmas after all.
Reality Check. God is not our Santa Baby. Yes, we can ask Him for things, but we shouldn't feel entitled to receive those things. We should be humbling petitioning Him, and then leaving those requests in His hands for Him to decide what to do with them, realizing that whether we have been naughty or nice this year does not mean we will get what we want. You can't have an all-powerful, sovereign God who you tell what to do and when to do it, and expect Him to follow your orders.
Let me be clear, I am not saying that we shouldn't pray for things that we want, and I am not saying that God doesn't listen to our prayers. What I am saying is don't feel entitled to receive everything you ask the Lord for because He will do what is best and most glorifying to His Name.
This was my first week of doing clinics two days in one week. I had a full day on Wednesday and a full day on Friday. In fact, I only have 2 openings before the first of the year. Needless to say I am busy and will be for the rest of December. So having this last week a little slower on the work side of things had really freed me up.
For instance last night I had a spontaneous evening of hanging out with old friends who I don't get to see very often. It was such a blessing to my heart to be around them. It was like old times for a night, and it did me a world of good. Isn't that what everyone longs for at this time of year, to be with the ones we love and care about? We just spent hours laughing and talking and being with each other. What a blessing!
I also had a thought this morning when I was listening to Christmas music on the radio. Madonna's version of Santa Baby was playing (her's really isn't my favorite), and I realized that I think sometimes we tend to treat God like He's our Santa Baby instead of the all-powerful, all-knowing Creator of all things including us. We take to Him our list of things we want, expecting him to check them off because we've been "good" this year. We tell Him we believe in Him and yet we want to see if He believes in us. We expect good from His hand because we are His children, and I mean it is Christmas after all.
Reality Check. God is not our Santa Baby. Yes, we can ask Him for things, but we shouldn't feel entitled to receive those things. We should be humbling petitioning Him, and then leaving those requests in His hands for Him to decide what to do with them, realizing that whether we have been naughty or nice this year does not mean we will get what we want. You can't have an all-powerful, sovereign God who you tell what to do and when to do it, and expect Him to follow your orders.
Let me be clear, I am not saying that we shouldn't pray for things that we want, and I am not saying that God doesn't listen to our prayers. What I am saying is don't feel entitled to receive everything you ask the Lord for because He will do what is best and most glorifying to His Name.
Lovely reminder for this time of year! Gods plans are always infinitely better than ours!! :)
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