Need Help With Your Straw?

Lunchtime at the preschool is quite a festive event. As a teacher, before we eat, we go around and help all of the kids open up their lunches. Some need a zip-lock bag opened, some need a top taken off of their plastic container, while others need their straw poked into their drink. With our kids filling up two tables, I choose one to sit at and help that table with the "opening duties."



One day, I had gone around the table and sat down to eat, concluding that everyone had their "stuff" opened. I was sitting by one of the girls in my class and I noticed that her liquid yogurt hadn't been opened. I naturally reached for her straw to poke it through the foil on top. Not surprisingly she wanted to poke it in herself. So I sat and watched her, waiting for her to ask for my help. I knew it was only a matter of time. She poked at the top with the straw creating a little hole, but not one big enough to fit the straw in. She continued to poke and poke, and no matter how hard she did so, she couldn't get the straw in. I continued to watch and wait. Finally she asked me to get the straw in for her and I poked it in with minimal effort. While these events took place before me, I began to grasp something that I knew God was teaching me.



As one can imagine, God teaches me a lot through these little ones. Though I knew that I could help the little girl in my class get the straw in her drink, she didn't want me to. She denied my help at first because she wanted to do it her way. So I sat and watched with a smile, just waiting for her to ask for my help. She struggled until she was tired of doing so, and then asked me to do it for her. Then, the goal was accomplished.



Though I as a teacher am a poor comparison to the all mighty God, I couldn't help but see that God was teaching me about how we, as His children, relate to Him sometimes. We acknowledge that He is our head, but when it comes to a decision to make or a step to take or even in our daily ministries, we do not let Him help. Of course He does way more than help, He is our source of power (Colossians 1:10-12). I couldn't help but think to myself, "Man, sometimes I do not even acknowledge God and accept His help (that is always available) because I want to do things my way. I struggle and struggle, and finally I realize that I cannot do it on my own. I turn to Him and ask for help: "wham!" The straw is in my drink. I can only imagine that God is sitting there waiting for us to ask Him for help. He is letting us struggle to show us that we need Him. "I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing" (John 15:5).



Of course help only means "help." It does not mean that what we want to happen will happen. God may help us out of what we think we want. I speak in generalities because only you know what you are going through. What I do think God wants us to realize is that we are infinitely in need of help, and He is our Helper.



"...because God has said, ' Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you. ' So we say with confidence, ' The Lord is my helper; I will not be afraid. What can man do to me?' " - Hebrews 13:5b-6



"In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express. " - Romans 8:26