Try and Believe

This morning my six year old son approaches me and says, “Dad, can you pull these apart?” and proceeds to hand me two of the smallest Lego(TM) pieces you can imagine. Now mind you, I’m no Lego(TM) novice. I remember well the days of my parents hopping around on one foot, hollering at me to pick up my Lego-landmines. I have to admit, when my son gave me the two pieces, I wasn’t all that hopeful I was going to get them apart without the aid of a pair of pliers and vice-grips.

My first inclination, of course, was to stick the toy in my mouth and use my teeth to pull them apart (a move that any little legoexpert knows well, as evidenced by tiny toothmarks on any well-used set of Danish plastic). I didn’t really want my son trying this “advanced” skill, so I stopped myself, none-to-soon, with my hand raised half way to my mouth.

I fiddled with the pieces using my thumbnails for a few seconds and proferred the plastic pieces to my son saying, “I don’t think I can get it.” He looks up from his newest creation and says, “It’s okay dad, just try.” And here he paused for about three seconds, and adds, “And believe. That’s the secret you know, try and believe you can do it. You have to do both together. Try and Believe.”

I sat there dumbstruck. How the heck am I supposed to get out of wrestling with these infernally small pieces that appear to have been epoxied together when the preacher’s kid is telling his dad: “It’s ok, just try and believe you can do it.” I must have sat there staring at him with a, “You’ve got to be kidding me…” kind of look, because he flashed me his most sincere smile and said very pastorally, “You can do it.”

Out of the mouths of babes. In my current appointment, I’m not serving a local church, but rather as a camp director. As we plan new programs, some succeeding, some failing, it’s sometimes difficult to remember that it’s not just about TRYING new things, it’s not just about experimenting, but it’s also about believing that God will do something through those efforts. Things might not turn out the way we hope when we first start trying, but we have to remember that God is still doing SOMETHING through our work. We must believe that if we seek to bless God in our grace-filled trying, that God can and will work some good from those efforts.

Try and believe. Where in your life are you struggling with this? How can you make a change?

Try and believe. Today I’m thankful for a new year’s perspective and the wisdom of a six-year old.

PS Oh yes, and for the record, I got the tiny pieces apart. Thanks for believing in me James.

Advertisement