A few days ago, we bought our youngest son Aim his first
bicycle with balancing wheels. Our young tot wasted no time to ride it around
my father’s small garage. To give him more maneuvering space, I opened the
gates and positioned myself halfway across the street for safety. Aim was
having such fun that he started making shifty sharp turns that I felt the need
to intervene. Slowly, I tried to position myself at his back to secretly hold
the bicycle chair from the under. But as soon as Aim noticed my not-so-covert
action, he gave me the cute wry smile.
“No, Daddy! ”, went his high-pitched soft voice with
matching pouting face to boot. “For Aim only”, he continued.
Rewind from the not-so-distant past.
When Aim was learning to speak, he has accustomed himself to
using the expression “for Aim only” if he wants to do things by himself. It’s
“for Aim only” if he wants to color the book without our intervention. It’s
“for Aim only”, when he is playing and his kuya Zek suddenly has the urge to
let his giant hand spider crawl and disassemble Aim’s wooden train tracks. It’s
“for Aim only” when he wants to eat alone using his spoon and fork.
Back to the present.
So as soon as Aim blurted out his often-used expression, I
have no choice but to back-off as well. But do you think I would have
backed-off totally. No way, Jose!
I just kept a safe distance for me to easily jump to the
rescue just in case Aim totally losses his balance. Well, he never did fall but
when he reached a corner of the garage and realized he is stuck, he turned
around and smiled, ”For Daddy only.” I was more than glad to lend a hand.
A lot of us can relate to this situation when it comes to
our spiritual life.
When everything is good and all things are going our way, we
often ignore and dismiss God into the farthest corner of our life. We bask in
our happiness and dwell at our false sense of “for myself only” achievements.
Then, we howl in disapproval whenever the spiritual prodding from God comes.
Safe to say, everybody loves their own comfort zones.
But if we only keep an open and welcoming heart, we would
come to realize that God’s close presence is not about imposing His will nor
push-buttoning an abrupt power off to our happiness. The plain truth is that
the cycle of life is always about ups and downs, success and failures,
happiness and sadness. And it is precisely when we are about to go to another
low point in our life that God’s has lovingly intended to keep us company, to
catch our fall, to lend and support, to comfort and hold. But He cannot do this
when we have already ask Him to stay clear of our lives during the “up-times”.
Just as a mother proudly and lovingly follows her toddler who is learning to
walk, trying to prevent any dangerous fall at each precarious step, so does God
shares in every bit of our happiness even as He patiently wait to comfort us
especially when the rough times comes in a swift sudden twist.
Our Prayer:
Dear Lord, please stay
with me all the time whatever and wherever I am.
Share in my happiness
and comfort me in my sadness. Amen.
