Stickers

    Randall sat on the floor of the kitchen and sobbed. He clutched the little sheet of stickers to his chest and pleaded with his mother.

    "But I want another one!" he cried, kicking his heels against the floor. "Please, give me another one!" His face was red from the exertion of displaying so much emotion.

    "No, you already have one, and that's enough," Randall's mother responded. As the torrent of tears continued to wage, I admired how she calmly dealt with her son.

    I've been on the floor screaming about stickers before. Maybe you have, too. 

    Sometimes we get so wrapped up in looking at ourselves and what we've been given. Then we look around at other people, or we look into our own ideas of what we'd like to be, and we start complaining. I've not been given enough. I don't like these gifts as well as those. I want some bigger stickers.

    I couldn't believe Randall was crying because he wanted another sheet of stickers identical to the first. It seemed so foolish to me! Yet I think my disappointments and frustrations must sometimes seem equally foolish to God.

    What He has given me is enough. If I need more stickers, I can trust that He will give me more. The sheet I already have contains the stickers I will need to complete the next page of my sticker book of life. Maybe I  think blue stickers are prettier. But it is orange, not blue, that I need to fulfill my purpose. Many times it seems harder to let go of my ideas than to stubbornly plead for different stickers.

    God sees everyone as equal. Not because we have the same stickers, but because we have what we need. We may not get the biggest stickers or the ones we think are prettiest. Maybe someone else has two sheets and I only have one. It doesn't matter. Their stickers wouldn't fit in my sticker book. What I have been given is perfect for me.

    Randall has grown into a fine young man. I believe that he will be able to submit to God's purpose in His life, not because submitting comes naturally to him, but because his mother began teaching him that giving in is a necessity at a young age.

    If you can submit to the sticker sheets God has given you, you will someday look back on life amazed at the joy your willingness has wrought.