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Previous Challenge Entry (Level 1 – Beginner)
Topic: Help (02/20/06)
He's only four years old and already he he tries to act like he’s all grown up. He’s stubborn. Just look at the little towhead with his chubby arms crossed and the bottom lip sticking out so far he could trip on it. I just scolded him for getting in my tools with out my help. He had come around the corner with a hand saw, just about as big as him, and not without pricking himself several times in the process. When I took the saw from him he didn’t want to release his grasp, even though his leg had blood tickling down it onto his favorite Bob the Builder socks. He just looked at me pleadingly and said, “I wanna do it myself!”

There is something in us that wants to do it ourselves. Is that a God given desire or maybe a bit of the fallen nature in us? I can’t really blame the little guy, I'm the same way. I keep my need for assistance most times well hidden. It might be evident for all to see that I could use a good strong hand, but I act as if that is the last thing in the world that I want. I send out that, “Me, Big Strong He-Man. Don’t Need Help” signal and the world obliges. Truthfully, I know that when I could use some help, it’s pride that keeps me from asking. I just won’t risk exposing the façade. I don’t believe that I am invincible or infallible, so why in the world would I believe others might for a minute, see me that way?

It goes down to the core, down to my relationship with my Heavenly Father. I resist His offer for guidance, every step of the way it seems I am out to prove I can do it on my own. Inevitably, I find myself in a place where I can’t. Yet, bloody and pleading, in the midst of my tribulation I cry out, “I wanna do it myself,” and God lovingly reminds me that He knows and respects that and that He’s there.

Going back to answer my question, I think it is a little of both. My fallen nature believes the lie that I do not need God and like Adam, that I might actually be losing out on something if I don‘t break away and do my own thing. At the same time, God allows me that freedom to see that what He genuinely wants is for me to reach my potential and that in no way wants to control me. I believe God doesn’t necessarily long for us to come to the realization that we need His help, but instead, simply that we want His help.

I look over at my own son standing there in disappointed defiance and I hand him back the saw. The pout breaks into a smile and then he sweetly asks me, “Can you help me get a band-aid first?”
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This article has been read 822 times
Member Comments
Member
Date
esther robinson
03/02/06
Practical thought and Good writing.
Patricia Charlton
03/02/06
We all like our independance.
I was confused in the first paragraph with the word (towhead) did you mean (twohead)? Also,in the first paragraph, I would suggest that you remove the second "he". On then that, it was good writing. Keep writing!
Edy T Johnson
03/04/06
WordNet Dictionary
Adj. 1. towheaded - of hair color; whitish
Synonyms: ash-blonde, platinum-blonde
This must be what the writer means. I've heard the word used for years, but don't know the origin of it.