Lessons from my Daughter, by Tokunbo Omonubi 

Children are a great source of ministration I have found. I had an experience with my 4 year old daughter this morning that was quite interesting, and mirrors the reality of our interaction with God sometimes (or for some people a lot of the time).

So my beloved daughter came into my room this morning asking for her sunglasses. Now I am currently recovering from a cold but yesterday I picked up her glasses and kept it out of reach until I had the strength to clean it up for her- as I might have touched it with unwashed hands that might expose her to catching the cold.

So she comes into my room and asks for her glasses, I reply ‘wait a minute, let me get it cleaned up for you’. I go to the bathroom room to roll up some tissue and dabbed in dettol (I am a germophobe, I know). Whilst I was in the bathroom she picked up my own glasses (that could be infected) to check if it was her’s. I repeated my instruction to her. Whilst I was saying this she was still looking for her glasses and finally found them and grabbed them. I took them from her before she wore them, got it cleaned and gave them back to her. She said thank you and left. I was trying to protect her from getting a cold but her sole focus was on what she wanted.

Sometimes we spend so much time focussed and praying to God for what we want and desire that we forget that these desires are borne from a place of limited knowledge.

I was never really comfortable with the term banded around when I was a very young man Pray Until Something Happens (P.U.S.H). When do you actually have time to listen to what God wants? Do you actually care? If you heard God’s voice would you know it as separate from your desires? Would you follow what He says even if it doden’t make immediate sense to you or if it sounded in opposition to your desires?

Abraham Lincoln famously said “Sir, my concern is not whether God is on our side; my greatest concern is to be on God’s side, for God is always right.”

Interesting points of note from the story. She asked me for her glasses- Good! She said thank you after I had finally given it to her- Good! But she didn’t listen. Did she trust me? To an extent, because that is why she asked me in the first place. But her trust was squarely based on me helping her accomplish her goal and not in all I had to say on the matter.

P.S: And by the way I am aware I am close to her in the pics below but my friend with a medical background tells me that colds are not transferable by mere breathing contrary to popular belief :). I hope he went to a good school. 😝