Obedience is Simple

Ministering to Jr. High kids takes a special kind of patience and a Christ-like love that I don't believe any childless twenty-something-year-old is prepared for. My word. (Not all of them, obviously - there are the occational few...) There should be some sort of special training course, or - rather - the parents should be required to send manuals. "Billy is fine with being teased, but resists doing things he doesn't like because he's still learning to be a slave of all." Things like that.

I'm especially appalled at the idea that they treat their parents similarly. Spirit-filled Christian kids who are about 13 years old and struggling with serious bondages like anger, pride, etc.

But then I'm forced to wonder if I behave similarly toward my Father. When He tells me to be quiet and just listen to His instruction or advice do I pay attention? When He asks me to do something I don't want to do, do I pout because I don't see how it's helping me grow?

A couple months ago Timothy was talking to one of these kids about submitting to his parents. I witnessed the following exchange:
T: "Obedience is easy..."
K: "but ... no it's not!"
T: "Yes it is! Obedience is easy - you make it hard."

That struck me. Am I as submitted and obedient as I expect these Jr. High kids to be? I don't know, but hallelujah that He, at least, has infinate patients and is the very embodiment of Love. At least I know that while I'm growing I don't annoy Him.