If you follow God...you get the goodies

Frank had me share this revelation with the church Sunday and I thought I'd share it here too.

The other day I had a bunch of errands to run. I got up and asked the boys if they wanted to go with me. At first they decided they would come along, since I promised them lunch at McDonald's. But then Franklin and Caleb decided to eat what was in the house and just stay home and play the video games all day. It would be easier and a whole lot more fun than following mom around from store to store to store. At least that's what they thought, anyway. But Daniel, on the other hand, decided to go with me.

Since I only had one child with with me, the pickin's were not so slim. He was able to get a Happy Meal instead of choosing something from the dollar menu.
:) Daniel wanted to know if we were going to get Frankie and Caleb anything and I told him no, they had food at the house, plus we were going to be gone a long time and we wouldn't be able to keep that food fresh.

After he got his chicken nugget Happy Meal and accompanying toy, we wandered off to run the errands. I had a lot of places to go and I needed to find some of those silicone baking dishes for Sunday's breakfasts, since they are unbreakable and easy to clean. First we went to Target where I had gotten a couple a few weeks ago, but they were out of them. Since we didn't have a time limit, I indulged Daniel in a little looksie in the toy department. Daniel made several comments about how Frankie and Caleb would have liked to have seen the new this or new that. We dawdled there for quite some time, ooohing and awwing over all the new toys. Then we wandered over to the other side of town to the other Target.

We got the things we needed, and Daniel and I spent several hours together with some one-on-one time, and at the end of the shopping trip, we decided to stop at the front of the store and get an ICEE. Remember those? YUM! So Daniel and I both got ICEEs and got Frank some ridiculously over-priced coffee drink from StarBucks. Daniel wanted to know if we were going to get Frankie and Caleb an ICEE, and since it was ten million degrees outside, there was no way they would have survived in the car in the next couple of hours of errands I had to run, so I explained to him that they wouldn't be getting a treat this time. Then we headed over to CompUSA to see Daddy....which meant that Daniel also got to go look at the X-Box 360 demo and play a few games. Then we headed to Walmart, and by then, it was time to eat again, so Daniel got another trip to McDonalds.

It was at the end of that long day that God showed me that He was revealing a picture of Himself and our relationship with Him. My older boys missed out on the goodies simply because they wanted to play video games rather than spend that time shopping....and while I certainly don't blame them, a striking parallel was made that when we choose to follow after the things of the world, even though we are God's children, we will often miss out on the goodies. Now my older boys' needs were still met...they had plenty of food and drinks at home, but Daniel went where mom went, so he got to have what mom was having. And when we go where God is going, we get to be a part of what He is doing, and we get the Happy Meals of life, and the ICEEs and the bonding that go along with it. When we abandon the things of this world and follow hot after God....we get the goodies!