Taking The Time

Wow, a night out without the kids! We received an invite for a private screening of Joyful Noise with Queen Latifa and Dolly Parton all sponsored by Warning Bros. hosted by Kirk Franklin. However, before we left the house, we had to leave the kids in good spirits, but that was the challenge. Paris, who sometimes poses as a certified genius, was having some difficulty with her math homework. Yes, I know, homework on the weekend and my kids were doing it on Friday, not Sunday...Wow! Anyway, Paris gets so frustrated with a couple of problems to where she screams "This doesn't make sense!" Now, we don't allow yelling and whining in the house, nor do we condone quitting, but it was obvious that she was in a desperate situation. So what do you do? I didn't want to be late for our event, but I easily and quickly came to the conclusion that this was not normal for Paris and she needed me more than that seat in the theater. So I sat down with her in the calmest manner I could muster and began to share with her how Satan can easily use these two simple math problems to throw us off of our path with Christ and that I don't want her to give Satan that opportunity. I hugged her, and we took a look at her problems. The first was a simple solution that involved an additional step that she just forgot to apply. However, the second problem was a doozy. I could't figure it out myself and that immediately made Paris feel better. Even though we eventually figured the problem out, well actually Tasha did, but my daughter saw me as human and got the chance to see the way I dealt with potential frustration. No matter how many times I looked at that problem I couldn't figure it out. So I just explained to her that we will look at it again later, maybe we just need a break from it to allow new ideas to form. In other words, we need some intervention. Tasha and I went to our engagement, enjoyed ourselves immensely, but better yet, my daughter was able to handle her situation without worry because she believed that we would eventually find the answer.

That's how God works with me and my life. I don't have the answers all the time, well, most of the time, but I'm learning that if I simply trust and wait on the Lord, the answers come, and that come right on time. I'm grateful that my daughter is learning that as well, more importantly, I'm thankful that I took the time for that lesson to occur.