Guest Post~ A Not So Fun Run

Hello Ladies!
Just want to let you know that I'll be at the Plainwell Coffee Mill tonight for the Girl's Night Out to Cut Domestic Abuse, then I have to get home for a Blog Talk Radio interview, and I'm a bit confused about when it will play but I'll have a direct link for you tomorrow.

But here is a guest post from my girlfriend Denise (click on picture to visit her blog):

A Not So Fun Run

James 4:2B “You do not have, because you do not ask God.”

The school our boys attend has a fund raiser in the spring for the school. The kids ask for donations and then run a mile in a “Fun Run”. The kids get really excited about it and I think all the donors (ie, mom and dad! J) are happy to have the money go right to the school. If the kids get $10 in donations, they get a free t-shirt. All the kids get to then wear the shirts when they run. The t-shirts are all important, they are THE fashion statement for the day and the students sign their names on each others shirts. It’s great fun…thus the FUN RUN.

Last year I didn’t go. It was the first year and I didn’t see what the big deal was. Our kindergartner won. Big time. And I missed it. For a full year I have heard about how I missed this great moment in history and yes, I have kicked myself for not going. I had thought it best to stay home with the two littler ones but, I should have ventured out.

When the donations paper came home this year, our now first grader was all about asking for donations and making sure I knew what day it was and so on and so forth. It was ALL he talked about.

Our oldest son never said a word.

He would talk with his brother about the race but he never handed me the donation list, I found it in a pile of papers he just laid on the table one night. He never asked for donations.

This really made me mad. I am not sure why. I had the money for him. My parents gave me money to give him too. As my Mom said “he hasn’t asked me but I am sure he will and here is the money now.” We were happy to give it to him, it was just sitting there in an envelope with his name on it, but he never asked.

The morning of the Fun Run, we were running late. This happens regularly. Try getting four boys out the door in the morning; it should be an Olympic event! I’m not saying I’d get gold, but I’d like to think I would be good competition! Anyhow, we are leaving the driveway and our oldest says quietly in a very Eeyore voice “I decided to save money this year and not ask for money for the Fun Run. That way, you can just keep money and, well, it’ll be fine. I don’t mind not having a shirt.”

Our first grader had turned in donations days ago and I had decided to not give our oldest any money if he didn’t ask. But this response put me over the edge. “If you had just asked, you could have gotten as much as your brother!” I snapped. And then, even though we would be even later, I ran back to the house, got his donation page and put the minimum ten dollars in for him.

On my way home to make cheer signs for my boys before the run ( I was going all out this year!) this verse kept echoing in my head….

“You do not have, because you do not ask God.”

I don’t ever remember reading that God was peeved or irritated. I have read He was angry and that he was over flowing with loving kindness but not ever just irritated.

And I had to wonder, what do I not have because I do not ask? I thought of Solomon asking for wisdom. I don’t know why I thought of that so prevalently, I suppose just because as a Mom, I constantly am wondering if I have made the right decisions.

But then this thought struck me. If I have never read God was irritated that means He would just be angry. I thought of my irritation with our oldest over that minor thing and thought of God being angry and it made me shudder. How often have I “Eeyored” about something, bemoaning the fact that I did not have what I needed for the moment… patience, love, wisdom. Had I asked? I felt shame as I thought how little I do often ask God for help. And I have a card above my sink to remember the persistent widow in Luke 18. I have no excuse!

And then this thought came to me. Does God have much stored for me, blessings to bestow, sitting in an ‘envelope’ all ready for me that I have just not gotten around to asking for?

It’s a humbling thought.

And how much has God blessed me with just because He loves me? Something I have never asked for but because I am His child He loves me so much he just gives me a gift?

I was suddenly not so irritated with my son. Yes, he missed out on more money for the school but as he finished that race that day with his bright yellow Fun Run shirt, I wondered who had gained the better gift that day, he or I?