I read a story of a famous evangelist who lived in the 1800s. He traveled the world preaching and would often be gone for months. When he returned from one of those long voyages, he would bring his small daughter a gift.
This time he did not. He told her, “I thought it would be nice if you and I went shopping together, On one condition, I get to choose the gift.”
“Oh, yes papa, that would be wonderful!” She was excited because she didn’t know what it would be!
As soon as they got to the store, she spotted a large apple barrel filled with little finger china dolls. Her eyes lit up. She rushed over to them, and said, look at these!; Oh, papa, this is what I want!”
“Did you forget our agreement that I would choose?” he asked her. “No papa, but what could be better than one of these? Please?” “Alright,’ he told her, ‘if that’s what you want.”
Later that afternoon, he watched her playing on the floor with her new doll. After a while, he called her over to him.
“Would you like to know what I was going to buy you? What I was going to choose?”
She was so happy with the little doll she had forgotten. “Yes, papa, what was it?”
“Well, do you remember that large china doll you always wanted?” Her eyes got big, and her heart sunk. “Oh, Papa…”
As the story goes, from that time on, whenever he would ask her what she wanted him to bring back for her, she would say, “You choose, Papa.”
It delights a father to give his children good things and how much more our loving Heavenly Father will do for us.
I wonder how many times I have said, “Oh, ABBA, this is what I want, please!”, and when I do, I risk that I may have settled for seconded best instead of His best for me?
God will choose for his children the best things- for them individually.
How I am like that little girl; I am so excited that ABBA Father will choose something special for me and then… I get a glimpse of the trinkets’ the world tells me I need, and what will make me happier. Before I know it, my vision becomes distorted, and I’ve lost focus and purpose of what is important to me.
I read a quote that said, “The minute you settle for less than you deserve, you get less than you settled for.”
I could change it around to, “The minute I settle for less than God has for me, I will get less than settled for.”
Nothing is better for us than God’s best. Allowing God the joy of sharing His blessing upon us is always a smart choice.
The takeaway: You chose, Father.