Play-Doh

Tonight we were at our friends house for home group and while the adults have the study and prayer portion of the night, the kids are rounded up and play together in another room. My friend thought it would be fun to have them play with play dough, so we put them around the table and rolled up their sleeves. Of course it didn't take long before one was crying. It seemed that one of them wanted a knife to cut the play dough with and so we found a plastic one in the box. Well it didn't take long before each child had to have a knife. We searched the kitchen drawers for more plastic knives and eventually each child had one. However, that wasn't enough because once they saw the shiny knife they all wanted that one, and then once they saw the pumpkin carving knife they all wanted that one and then they wanted the black plastic knife. What was interesting is that they were never happy with what they did have. As an adult I was able to see that clearly the play dough knife was the best one for the purpose of cutting and shaping play dough but they could not see it. They were too involved in the action to be able to see clearly and use proper judgment (and they're only 2 and 3 years old).


I felt the scene may be familiar to what God witnesses sometimes. He has given us the things we need, even way more than we need but it is never enough. It is never the right thing, or the thing that someone else has. When we are down deep in our messy lives we get so distracted by what other people have that we forget to be thankful and appreciative of what we do have. God has greatly blessed me with both immaterial and material blessings. He has given me just what I need to do the job that He has called me to. May I not be so focused on looking at what my neighbor has that I forget to see what God has given me and be thankful for it and use it for His purpose.