Mature Christians Say This Every Morning

I remember when my daughter started soccer in her early grade school years.  For all of her short little life we had been telling her, Don’t be selfish, Share with others, always be kind.

Then she was on the soccer field, and we were screaming, Take the ball!  Push past her!  Don’t let her get it!

That strange turn of things is what my preacher husband spoke last night.  He stood up and told a whole room full of us what to say first thing in the morning.  He even gave us a little card to put on the nightstand, so the words would be the first thing we would see when we wake up.

“I can’t.”  

And all our lives we’ve been hearing it said that we should be strong and independent.  Learn to stand on our own two feet.

The “I can’t” feels all backwards, like the little blondie girl who looks at us confused from center field, wondering why now, after all this time, we’re telling her to do the exact opposite of what she’s heard all her years.

My preacher man says, “God opposes the proud but shows favor to the humble.”  (1 Peter 5:5  NIV)  He says we must admit we can’t successfully obey God with that independence and all that strength we learned for 10 or 20 or 30 years in a row.

A mature Christian runs to the, I can’t, because she longs for the favor of God with such a hunger that she will bend the knee and show her lacking before she makes breakfast.

So I know.  I know we’ve been telling you to be strong and tough and do things yourself, but scrap that.

Admit weakness and open the way for God’s, I can.