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Mom Guilt 
"If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him!”
(Matthew 7:11, NIV)
Mom Guilt.
That’s what had me standing in the Christmas lights aisle at Wal-Mart two days after Thanksgiving. I squinted and stared at the options before me. Icicle lights. Blue, green, or red lights. Sparkly, flashing lights with 12 different settings. Heavy duty lights. Mini lights.
Then there were clips and clasps of every variety to attach the perfect lights to your house. Did I need these things? Wasn’t there a way to hang lights sans gadgets and gizmos?
I grabbed plain white mini lights from the shelf, thinking my first attempt at decorating the outside of our home should be simple. “Start small,” I thought.
For years, my oldest daughter had begged me to decorate the outside of our home for Christmas. This year, her pleading had reached a new level of intensity.
She took one look at the homes with Christmas lights already gleaming in mid-November (insert looks of disgust here!!!) and whined from the back of our minivan, “Mom . . . . . . . .Everyone’s house is so beautiful for Christmas and ours is just DULL.”
I threw angry glances at the decorated houses as we sped by. Even if they didn’t know I was mad at them, at least I felt better getting the feeling off my chest.
Still, I get it. I remember being a kid and pestering my dad to hang Christmas lights on our home for years. I remember taking the lights tour in the family van and oohing and aahing over the decorations and thinking it’d be great to add a little Christmas flare to the outside of our house.
So, there I was buying lights from Wal-Mart. And there I was starting simple, stringing them up the steps to my home and around the door frame. And there was my daughter exclaiming how beautiful it was.
She actually had asked for one of those giant blow-up Snow Globes for the front yard along with a massive Frosty the Snowman and maybe some lighted reindeer figurines.
But there are limits. Mom guilt only gets you so far.
When I’m praying, I wonder how many of my requests to God make it to His throne room sounding like the high-pitched whine of pouring on “God guilt.” Do you do this, too?
“God, all my friends have their careers all set and know what they want to do with their lives, but I’m floundering around waiting for some direction here!”
“God, You thought everyone else deserved a husband to love them and tell them they’re beautiful. What’s the deal with me still being single?”
“God, how come everybody else is financially secure and has a savings plan and we’re struggling paycheck to paycheck and never truly making it?”
God doesn’t bless us or rescue us out of guilt, though. Not now. Not in the past. Not ever. He’s not guilted into love and He wasn’t guilted into the cross.
Deep down, me stringing lights across the front steps of my house wasn’t truly about guilt either. It was about love.
My daughter had made a request. Not a ridiculous one, all motivated by greed or pride or selfishness. It was the simple desire of a child’s heart.
And I love her.
So, I gave in. I spent less than $10 for some lights and garland and took a tiny piece of my time and gave her the desire of her heart.
I can’t always give her everything she wants. She can’t have every toy or outfit or trip her friends have. She can’t do every activity she wants to do. Nor would that be good for her anyway.
Still, I give her what I can when I can because I love this beautiful daughter of mine. I love to see her react with joy, love to see her know she’s loved, love to show her that I listen to what she says.
God loves you.
He loves to see you react with joy. He loves to see you when you know you’re loved. He loves to show you that He listens to what you say.
God’s intention is always relational, though. He isn’t just dishing out answers to prayer requests like some sort of holy vending machine.
The Psalmist tells us, “Take delight in the LORD, and he will give you the desires of your heart” (Psalm 37:4, NIV).
Take delight in your relationship with Him. Linger in His presence. Make Him your first priority. Allow Him to re-arrange the furniture of your heart and match your desires with His.
And when you begin to feel the frantic panic of need, remember that God tells you “do not worry about your life.” Not about having food or drink. Not about having clothes to wear. He watches over the birds of the air and the flowers in the field and He values us so much more than them. He surely can handle our every need.
So, keep your focus relational. “Seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well” (Matthew 6:33, NIV).
Then when He pours out blessing on you, when He loads your arms full of good gifts, when He grants the simplest petitions of your heart—even the whimsical longings you are too embarrassed to actually ask for—accept it as a reminder of His love. He wasn’t coerced or guilted into giving you amazing grace.
To read more devotional thoughts from Heather King, check out her blog here: http://heathercking.wordpress.com/
Copyright © 2008-2015 Heather King
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