"Not Always the Teacher:

“Not Always the Teacher”

In December I took my favorite (and only) granddaughter Kimbur to lunch and shopping for a gift for her sixteenth birthday. As we talked I recalled an incident when she was three which she also remembered (including a detail or two I had forgotten). She and her parents were visiting us and she was in the yard watching me barbecue chicken legs for supper. I asked her to go in the house and ask Karen (aka Gram) for tongs and she replied, “It would be my pleasure!” I later told Karen what had happened and we’ve laughed about it many times since. (By the way, I asked for and got Kimbur’s permission to share this story.)

This was a simple request and I was delighted at Kimbur’s “out of the mouth of babes” response. But it wasn’t until a few months ago that I realized this is the way God wants me to answer Him when He asks something of me (“Serve the Lord with gladness….”—Psalm 100:2). Too often, to my shame, my reaction has been one of reluctance and grumbling, something in which He takes no pleasure (“Do everything without complaining or arguing.”—Philippians 2:14).

This process with a multi-year gap motivated me to examine the Scriptures to see how I measure up to those things in which God wants me to take pleasure. I found this includes His Word (“I delight in your decrees….”—Psalm119:16), His will (“I delight to do thy will, O my God….”—Psalm 40:8, KJV), showing mercy (“…If you have a gift for showing kindness to others, do it gladly.”—Romans 12:8, NLT), and giving (“…God loves a cheerful giver.”—2 Corinthians 9:7). After writing the above God convicted me of my shortcomings and I paused to ask His forgiveness and that my pattern might change.

Sometimes we think we’re always the teachers and seldom if ever the learners from our grand-children. Thank you, Kimbur, for being my teacher. I love you!

Blessings!

Jim McMillan (aka Gramps)