Saturday, April 29, 2006

Broken Toys

I've been thinking about something that happened when I was a very little girl.
I had a dolly that I loved. I took my dolly with me everywhere. We played together, slept together, even went to church together. One day my dolly's arm came off. I was crying as I took my dolly to Daddy. In my mind, my daddy, who was a carpenter, coud make anything, and fix anything.
I clutched my dolly in my arms as I sobbed. "Dolly's broke. Daddy, fix."
Daddy took me in his arms and sat me on his knee, then tried to take my dolly from my arms. I clutched tightly, unwilling to let dolly go. Daddy certainly could have taken my dolly from me by force, but he didn't struggle with me. He sat for a while holding me, stroking my hair, patting my back, but still I clung to dolly, unwilling to let him take her from me.
Finally. Daddy said, "Peanut, I can't fix your dolly unless you give her to me."

Sometimes, I see myself as that little girl, crying about the brokenness in my life, begging God to fix it, but unwilling to let go. I know I'm not the only one who does this. Alcoholics Anonymous (how I know about AA is a whole other story) has a bumper sticker that says, "Let Go, and Let God."

The first time I saw this sticker, I was puzzled. But after I thought about it, I realized that I'm not the only one who brings my troubles to Him, and then won't let go so that He can have control.

I heard Mercyme singing this morning a song I had never heard, about "so long, self."

Whether it is my self, or someone else in my life who is troubled, I need to give it to God, and let Him make of it what he will. He can't fix it, until I let go.

3 comments:

Diane Viere said...

Your post reminded me of a poem--here it is:

Let Go and Let God

As children bring their broken toys, with toys for us to mend,
I brought my broken dreams to God,
because He is my friend.
But then instead of leaving Him
in peace to work alone,
I hung around and tried to help,
with ways that were my own.
At last, I snatched them back again
and cried, “How can you be so slow?”
“My child,” He said, “What could I do?
you never did let go.”

It's a poem that I posted nearby my computer some time ago--as I was beginning the surrendering process with a long-term struggle. I, too, have a tendency to give it to God--but keep my grip tightly around it....pull it back to try to fix it...give it away again....pull it back to start micro-managing the solution. It is only when we give it completely over to God--that we release our problem to His resurrection power!

I'm a slow learner.....!~

Don't you love how God whispered to you today through Mercy Me.....He listens to our prayers...and when we aren't totally releasing our hearts desire to Him..He nudges us!

From another who has had to learn to Let Go and Let God--God Bless you as you turn your broken toys over to Him.....for His repair...and His repair only. Loosen your grip! And you'll be amazed at what He does!

Diane

Jan/lost-strayed-or-stolen.blogspot.com said...

Thanks for sharing the poem. It expresses what I was trying to say so beautifully. It's sad that I have to be at the point of giving up before I just let go and let God have it. You would think I would have learned by now!

Pastor Bill said...

Thanks for your blog. I am a pastor and am working on a sermon this week about letting God handle things. We do have a tendency to want to hang on too tightly instead of letting God be God. I also want to thank "Praying for your prodigal" for their poem. It was one our adult Sunday school teacher used to quote and I have been looking for it for years. Blessings to you and your blog ministry.