Step Away from the Grapes

There are few kids, I am sure, who wake up from a nap and say, "Mommy, I want to finish my job!" But Jacob numbers in that few. He loves to help. He helps me, he helps Tony, he even helps Kaylen. On more than one occasion I have watched him lift her up onto something, or help himself to moving her out of his way. She hates it when he does that, by the way, but I guess that's the price you pay for being a mini girl. Anyway.

My helper. If I'm cooking, he wants to stand on something so he can watch and help, if I am putting laundry in the washer, he wants to carry some too, if I am picking up toys...oh wait...the helping doesn't extend to his toys oddly enough. Why is that?

In the grocery store Jacob finds other ways to be helpful. Picking up things {I don't want to buy} and putting them in the buggy, picking out the best bananas {no, Jacob, NOT the ones with brown spots!} and of course, following his nose to the cookies that we really need to take home. When I check out, both Jacob and Kaylen work as fast at they can to help me put the groceries on the belt. Me, frantically trying to rescue the eggs, apples and anything breakable, them tossing things up there...literally. This past week Jacob insisted on helping me with a bag of grapes. He was so cute and so insistent on being helpful. He lifted that bag over his head, and plop! dropped it on the floor. Then, when he was trying to figure out where it went, he stepped on the bag of grapes. Sigh. Helpful, but not really. And those were really crunchy grapes too.

It was a moment when I laughed, rolled my eyes and shook my head with chagrin all at the same time. And then, with startling clarity, I saw myself as I must appear to God sometimes. "I got this, God, I'm going to help you out!" And then plop! not only to I drop what I am trying to do, I step all over it and turn it into a muddled mess. And the Lord rolls His eyes, shakes His head and says, "I don't need your help with everything. Sometimes, you need to let Me do what I do best."

And He would be right. God knows best, always. I find so much comfort and strength in that knowledge. When the storms howl, when the baby is sick, when a friend hurts, when you just don't know what to do next, don't pick up the bag of grapes, let the Lord handle it!