Toddler or Grownup?

Life can be like an all-you-can-eat buffet with lots of choices.  You can fill your plate with that baked fish and vitamin packed spinach or you can give in to that little temper-tantrum-throwing toddler in your brain; arms folded and boo-boo lip out while crying, “I don’t want a salad.  I want ice cream!”

It’s like the grownup “need” in our spirit has to tell that toddler “want” in our flesh to take a time-out.

But what if you give in to the toddler?

You’ll suffer the consequences.  Trust me.  I know.

I listened to my “toddler” when a literal all-you-can-eat buffet stretched before me.

Need:  I’m allergic to wheat and dairy, so I should probably eat…

Want:  But I want hushpuppies and chocolate cake!

So I totally ignored the grownup in me that needed to get over to the salads and instead ate all sorts of things I have no business eating.  And now, days later, I still feel like garbage.

Thanks a lot, bratty self.

The point is we all have choices to make, and if we base our decision-making solely on what we want, there may be some pretty unpleasant consequences; like brain fog, stomachache, and backache in my case.

What choice do you need to make?  Is there something your toddler-self is stomping about, demanding, but the grownup in you knows better?

Let me ask you this:  If you give in to what you want, are you going to miss out on an opportunity God has coming your way?  If the spoiled kid in you wins and drags you over to the dessert table, you may never see the surprise entrée God wanted you to pick up.

And maybe this will come as a surprise, but God doesn’t need you to pick it up.   He can find someone else.  He just wanted to bless you.  But that’s okay.  He can give that blessing to someone else who isn’t letting a toddler call the shots.

So maybe you and I should just tell our toddler-selves it’s time for a nap, and we’ll wake them when it’s time to go outside to blow bubbles and roll down the hill.  That way we can have a little grownup time with God, and we can learn to follow His lead instead.

“Watch and pray so that you will not fall into temptation. The spirit is willing, but the body is weak.”  (Matthew 26:41 NIV.)