Thy Will Be Done

When Jesus taught His disciples to pray one day, He prayed, "Thy will be done." When I was a little girl, I often thought about whether my prayers included the "thy will be done" part.  I was so attuned to wanting to please God. It was so childlike.  I have read that a large percentage of what a child does is based on pleasing first parents, and later teachers, etc.  This is why children are endangered by an evil adult asking them to be co-operative.  Because, children want to please, they like and respond to the affirmation.

As we grow older, we learn that responding co-operatively to everything gets us in trouble. And some adults expect too much. Some parents can never be pleased.  My Mom was like that about some things.  You just couldn't do enough right. I forgave her, and tried my hardest, but some things were actually at odds with what I needed to do to keep my grades up at school.  Like reading, she thought it was a waste of time. Mama never really cared about our grades. Well, I never remember her chiding us for a bad grade, but I do remember her standing up for me once when I got a D in art. I usually got A's and B's, and an occasional C that just tore me up. Not her, me. She knew about me and my art, and she knew I wasn't going to slack in that class. So she wrote my teacher a letter, and one to the principal, insisting my grade be changed.  When the teacher investigated, someone in the next class was taking my work, painting out my name, then putting their own name on my work.  I therefore had no work in the drawer. It looked to the teacher, (who was never in the class to actually know,) like I never did anything. Mom was right to stand up for me. And she did it because she knew me. She knew my love for art, and that I would never miss a chance to impress a teacher with my art.
God is like that.  Sometimes when we do our best to please him, something goes wrong. When things go wrong, I often second-guess my decisions; I wonder did I forget to consider if I am doing His will.  My daughter has actually asked me how to know when you are doing His will.  I simply don't think it is possible to "do His will" 100% of the time. But if we are mindful of trying, the Lord knows us, knows our hearts.  I have known Him to do like my Mama did, and step in to change things a bit. 
_More tomorrow_

I Love you Lord, for stepping in and standing up for me. There have been a few times in life that I knew I was in your will, and someone else didn't give me credit for that.  Some have dared to insist that being in your will meant being in theirs. Thanks for helping me know the difference. Amen