Cave Babies

[Tumbleweed64]

My son told me how his daughter, little one-year-old, Tessa, was demanding to have the remote control for the television. He said she reminded him of a cave man, or perhaps a cave baby in this case, because of the way she was acting. She kept reaching and screaming for the remote. On a whim, my son decided to give it to her and see just what she would do with it. Upon finally receiving the prized remote, she pushed the buttons over and over but nothing happened. She tried screaming at it several times but still nothing happened. Next, she took the remote over to the television and smacked it against the TV, whacking it again and again as she yelled louder and louder at it. Finally, since nothing else seemed to work, she decided to try tasting the remote. It evidently didn’t taste good so she looked at it hard, screamed at it one last time, and then threw it down on the floor. As it crashed to the floor, making a big noise, Tessa simply looked up and clapped for joy!

Tessa knew what she wanted, after all, she had watched her parents make the dancing cartoon pictures appear with that very object. Yet, even after she got the remote, the pictures didn’t appear for her.

As I considered the actions of my little granddaughter, I thought it was a pretty good picture of how we all act sometimes. How often do we scream and scream for what we want. Oh, maybe not quite as vividly as Tessa did, yet, how really different are we?

We sometimes insist on our own way and if we do end up getting what we desire it doesn’t always work quite like we envisioned it or it wasn’t nearly as wonderful as we thought it would be. We try different things with it to see if it might give us some kind of satisfaction or pleasure, yet it often falls short.

Are we like cave babies, not understanding God’s purpose for what He has given us? Sometimes we ask for something, even demand it, from God. Like a loving father, he sometimes allows us to have what we think we want, perhaps to show us that we aren’t ready for it or that it is not what we wanted at all but we have to learn the hard way. We push all the buttons, we try different methods, and we might even whack it a time or two but it brings no pleasure. We taste and see that it is not as good as we had envisioned. Instead of bringing it to our Father for his help, we try to do things our own way.

I think there might be several morals to this story even from a cave baby’s point of view:

• “Don’t demand what your Father withholds”
  
  “If you don’t know how it works, ask for help”
  
  “If it doesn’t taste good, throw it down”
  
  However, the greater moral to this story might be:
  
  “When everything goes wrong, simply look up, smile, and clap for joy!”
  
  "In everything give thanks, for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus, concerning you" (1 Thessalonians.5:18)

~ Pamela Perry Blaine ~
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[GritsnGrace]

Oh that's good!!! I love it!!!

 

[smiledaily]

THANK YOU!

 

[MMXII]

Excellent moral lesson. Thanks TW

 

[faithmom]

My own child right now is going through a "cave baby" moment. She has a kids sewing machine for a long time. It has very simple directions, and she reads very well, but she wants me to just do it for her and show her everything.

One of my greatest challenges is forcing myself to not be a "helicopter" parent. To ignore my urge to make the roads perfect and barrier free for my kids and to not always rescue them when challenges frustrate them.

Though I am there to help for the asking, it isn't always the type of "help" my children think they should get. Yet, I would fail them miserably as a parent if I didn't nudge them out there on their own a bit.

How often do we struggle with the idea, that God loves us enough to challenge us, to teach us to keep a grip on our emotions in tough times, to stay focussed on the task even when it is tough? How often do we not see that the struggles he gives us help us to grow and be ready for greater challenges?

Now, I'd better go make sure the toy isn't actually broken or something.