Curves and Bumps in the Road

 

My eleven-year-old grandson was playing on my wife’s iPad a week ago and closed it in frustration.  I said to him, “Hey, it’s only a game.  It’s supposed to be fun.”  Bennett mumbled, “I can’t have any fun with all of those curves and bumps in the road.”  I thought for a moment and said, “So the road is giving you trouble?”  Bennett replied, “Yeah, Granddaddy.  If the road was straight and smooth, I would be able to make it so much easier.  I could collect hundreds of gold coins.  It would be great!”  I answered, “You’re right, Bennett it would be much easier that way.  But it would be boring too.”  But I wasn’t thinking about Bennett’s road game, I was thinking about Bennett’s life-road ahead.  Hey, God could smooth out the road if He wanted to.  God could remove the bumps and make life easier.  But would that help us?  Would life really be better off if everything went our way and we never had a problem?  Our loving heavenly Father knows exactly what we need to help us to grow and to help us to become better individuals.  God allows difficulties in our lives to toughen us up for greater difficulties that will come along later in life.  Hey, it’s the curves and the bumps in life that make us better.  But without God, the curves and bumps of life might make us bitter.  Our trust in the good Lord makes the difference.  Are we living our lives for ourselves?  Or are we living our lives to please God and to prepare ourselves for heaven?  Solomon said in Proverbs 3:5&6, “Trust in the LORD with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths.”  Yes, Bennett, we need the curves and the bumps to bring us back the God.  And we need God … more than you’ll ever know.