A couple weeks ago I put together a swing set for the grandkids. They are nothing like the ones I grew up with. Now there are climbing walls, playhouses, sand boxes and they are made out of wood.
I learned a few things while maneuvering my way through the hundreds of parts and pieces. The first thing I learned was to follow the instructions and don’t skip any steps. There was a couple of times I thought I could take a short cut and I actually spent more time going back and fixing things that I got out of order.
Doesn’t that sound like us sometimes. We want to grow spiritually and let God have more control over our lives, but we want to take shortcuts or get things out of order, and it becomes painfully clear that surrendering to God means surrendering our control. There are no shortcuts, skipping steps or rearranging of His order. We can try changing the instructions, but it won’t change the truth that God’s ways are better than our ways.
Another thing I learned was that sometimes things don’t make sense, but we have to trust the process. There were times whenever I found myself bolting board 10 to board 21 and when I was finished it didn’t look anything like a swing set. But after completing several such steps it all began to make sense. I had to take a few small steps before I was ready to put it all together.
Over the years, I have learned as a Christ follower that the process is just as important as the destination. How we get there does matter. God is much more interested in our obedience than in our accomplishments. He sees our lives like a puzzle all put together and we can only see one piece. He knows how important that piece is, but sometimes I would just like to skip that piece and move on to the completed puzzle. It doesn’t work that way. Each piece is important. The mundane ones, the exciting ones and even the painful ones. They all complete God’s work in us.
After 6 hours, I finally got that swing set built. And low and behold, it looked like the picture on the box. And the best part is the grandkids love it. That’s my reward for the sore knees and back and it is a gentle reminder that instructions are good.
