Understanding the power of asking for help and forgiveness
For most of my life, I’ve been the kind of person who found it hard to ask anyone for anything. I mean I grew up thinkingthat asking was tantamount to failure. So, I lived a life consumed with making it on my own. Like James Brown said, ‘Just open up the door, and I’ll get it myself.’ The problem, or joke on me, was that I had just enough success to believe that most of what I achieved in life was done independently. I’ve since learned that personal or professional success under these circumstances can be dangerous and, in some cases, even lethal.
In a world where you think you’ve got it going on, it gives God no credit for anything. Giving God any praise when you think it’s all about you contradicts the spotlight you’ve created for yourself. God becomes an intruder in the spoils of your paltry victories. After all, your guile and wily ways got you where you are today. Life becomes a game of ‘get over,’ ‘keep away,’ and ‘I’ve got mine, now get yours.’ People don’t state this publicly, but if you know anyone who operates in this style, you know over time how foolish they eventually look, the shallower they sound, the emptier they are, and how hard they are about to fall. God gives each of us a chance.
Free will allows us to choose right or wrong, good or bad, Him or the devil. In the long run, it’s up to us, but the Lord lets us know where we wind up and that the right choice is always Him. We are now- and always have been – God’s children. Have you ever noticed that the older you get, the smarter your parents become? By the time you reach middle age, your folks will be downright brilliant. If the truth be told, they don’t change. We do.
Like our parents, God is waiting for a change in us. Any turn towards Him is met with open arms and spiritual kisses. No matter how hard it was to admit, Mama and Daddy were right. Begrudgingly or maybe never, you finally succumbed to the realization that the only thing that kept you from listening to someone who tried to save you from yourself, kept you from taking advice from someone who only had your best interest at heart, was that you were determined to stay stuck on stupid. At that moment when it’s our parents, you don’t have to say much. All you have to do is show up. Mama knows. Big Mama knows. Aunt Mary knows, and they all agree on whether to tell Daddy or not. At that point, if you’re lucky, maybe you haven’t wrecked your life permanently. And even if you have, they still love you and that fact goes a long way towards your ultimate survival. At the moment that we let go and let God in, the same type of miracle happens. Arrogance gives way to humility.
The ego is transformed into submission, and pride disappears altogether. Again, all we have to do is show up on Daddy’s doorstep, and not only is everything forgiven, but He throws a party in our honor and invites all the neighbors. I believe that is why so many people who come to or return to the Lord cry when the party starts. The recognition is not yet there that He heard and accepted the“I’m sorry” before they ever said it. And when you recognize the magnitude of that fact, the reality that He forgave you before you asked Him to increases the emotional outpouring of knowing you’re home. It’s easier to accept this from parents because we take them for granted most of our lives. It’s difficult to accept this from God at first because we don’t understand the risk of taking Him for granted until it’s almost too late.
May God bless and keep you always.
This column is from James Washington’s Spiritually Speaking: Reflections for and from a New Christian. You can purchase this enlightening book on Amazon and start your journey toward spiritual enlightenment.
