Butt Prints In The Sand
One night I had a wondrous dream,
One set of footprints there was seen,
The footprints of my precious Lord,
But mine were not along the shore.
But then some stranger prints appeared,
And I asked the Lord, "What have we here?"
Those prints are large and round and neat,
"But Lord they are too big for feet."
"My child," He said in somber tones,
"For miles I carried you alone.
I challenged you to walk in faith,
But you refused and made me wait."
"You disobeyed, you would not grow,
The walk of faith, you would not know.
So I got tired, I got fed up,
and there I dropped you on your butt."
"Because in life, there comes a time,
when one must fight, and one must climb,
When one must rise and take a stand,
or leave their butt prints in the sand."
Do you ever feel like this is the image of God that you've been given by leaders in your life? That God is merciful and loving but you'd better get your act together so as not to test Him? I thought this poem was a pretty good capture of that mindset. And it bothers me because I find myself agreeing and disagreeing with it at the same time.
2 comments:
Good parents understand that the child is learning about life by doing. By sitting down the child is trying to communicate their displeasure. And their plea is "can I trust you to love me when I am struggling over whose will to follow?" A loving parent allows the child the freedom to express themselves.
In working with adolescents one thing I observed over and over again. The kids would verbally abuse their mother, the custodial parent. But they were as nice as they could be to the father, the noncustodial parent. While it didn't make the verbal abuse right, most kids admitted when they were able to feel safe enough to say it, that if they treated their dad like that he would leave and never come back. They felt safe enough to let their anger go at their mom, because they knew their mom wouldn't leave them.
Harsh parents punish a child for being "obstinate". Loving understanding parents will allow the child to express their feelings and lovingly guide their child into greater trust...through love and kindness.
I have known many pastors who attempt to punish the obstinate behavior rather than teaching the child that butt prints in the sand may give them less return for their actions than trust and cooperation.
A butt print in the sand is an opportunity to teach greater understanding and greater trust.
Another thought occurred to me. Those pastors that punish the faithful for obstinance usually don't reveal their own buttprints.
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