Every Sunday or holiday when the kids are off, we divide them into groups and teach them different skills (cooking, changing a tire, sewing etc.) Hannah and I lead the home economics group, Robbie and Abi lead the mechanics group. The girls in our group had been asking for brownies for some time, so Hannah decided we should have them make some during our class. We divided the kids into groups of three, let each of them make their own batch of brownies, and occasionally stepped in to help.
We heated up the oven, prepared the pan, and had all the kids huddle around the main table while the group leaders poured each of their own batches into the same pan. All the batter combined fit perfectly in the pan and we were quite proud of ourselves! I grabbed the pan and headed towards the oven with much excitement! I opened the oven and to my surprise, the pan was too big for the oven! It didn’t fit! I looked over at Hannah and all the kids. Disappointment rested on most of their faces as Hannah laughed. “Why didn’t I check to see if the pan fit before pouring the batter if I knew the oven was small!” I stated!
Long story short, we had to fit the batter into three smaller but deeper pans which then led to a longer baking time and some gooey patches. Luckily they tasted delicious and we had no complaints.
I was kind of frustrated at myself for not checking the pan before having to make all the extra fuss, but how many times does that happen to us on the day to day? We make plans and calculate things perfectly and yet they sometimes don’t work out the way we wanted them to or they don’t work out at all.
I’ve heard people say, “Why didn’t this relationship, job, trip, etc. work out? I thought it would be good for me.” I’ve said similar things. The problem is that we set ourselves up. We go into different situations in life, not bothering to ask God if we should move forward. Then if it doesn’t always workout, we are disappointed. We turn back to God and ask, “Why?” but I feel like God has the bigger “why” question: “Why didn’t you ask me about it? Why didn’t you ask me to direct your steps?”
A lot of times we forget to ask God if we are making the right choice. We forget to ask what His will is. We forget to ask Him to bless our efforts. We forget to ask Him to walk with us. This forgetfulness leads to making our own plans and building our own castles in the air which leads to disappointment and frustration. Is it fair, then, to blame God when things don’t go our way if we didn’t ask Him to be a part of it? That burden isn’t on Him and yet the crazy thing is He will help clean up our mess if we ask!
Let Him be a part of your plans even if it’s the tiniest thing! He cares, and we can never go wrong while He is on our side.