Stuck In A Tree!

Recently as I was doing work around the house my daughter Abigail comes running up to me almost in tears, "Nathans stuck in a tree and he cant get down!" I start to chuckle to myself and nostalgia overtakes and the only thing I can think of is the infomercial for the radio collar for assistance, this was before cellphones, "HELP I've fallen and I cant get up!" It use to be a running joke back in the day but the closer I get to 40 the more I think more seriously about that thing we all laughed at.

 Now any caring daddy would be alarmed but you have to realize that my Nathan is as good a climber as any boy so I thought Abby was overreacting and Nathan was teasing.

"Honey, Nathans not stuck hes just teasing you."

"No daddy, he is stuck for real and you don't believe me!"

Abby runs off and I feel bad for her and determine to scold Nathan later for "calling Fox"and explain to him the consequences of teasing his sisters.

A little while later Kristen comes running over the hill out of breath and filled with anxiety.

 "I need the ladder!"

"What do you need the ladder for?"

"Nathans stuck in a tree about 25 feet up!"

Now I'm feeling quite reluctant to believe this story but my wife is very insistent and is determined to take the 24' ladder to the woods with or without me. Well, I know when my wife crosses the line from convincible to invincible and the line was crossed there was no convincing her otherwise. So, here we go carrying the ladder though our back woods, me I'm feeling Nathan might just be on the way to a "backside massage".

We get there, sure enough, he was stuck except the 24' was a tad on the high side but to a worried mother that's understandable. Needless to say we put the ladder up and Nathan makes his way down and then gives us a run down of how he got up there in the first place.

I learned a few things there, for one i once again realize that my discernment is flawed at best and two I have been "stuck in a tree" many times in my life. Some times my family suffers at my lack of discernment and that makes my heart ache. Its like sometimes I think I'm doing just the right thing and low and behold i realize after the fact that Ive just screwed everything up. As dads God doesn't expect us to be perfect, in fact children have an amazing capacity to forgive! Though we aren't perfect that's not the "golden egg" of excuses, we should be humble enough to say we are sorry for hurting those we love. Taking the time to think about how others may feel is a discipline not just a "gift". We have to ask God for his grace but you know what, he only gives grace to the humble, James 4:6. Lets take time to think how our actions will affect our family and not just about how this makes us feel or suits our fancy.

Two haven't we all been "stuck"and just plain felt like there was nothing we could do. Well weather we will admit it or not men, we hate to ask for help I know. It just runs thick in our blood, asking for help is a sign of weakness, right? No, not always, God rewards those who "ask for help" from him! Ive come to the realization that my children look up to me when I acknowledge that I'm just in over my head and stop trying to prove I can do it all on my own. Do you know someone who thinks they don't need anyone? Why would we think that impresses God or our family, those who matter most?

Have you ever asked for your child's help when you really don't need it? That small act of dependence gives the helper a sense of worth, but maybe even more importantly it also it gives opportunity for a relationship to strengthen through communication and "time spent together". Our relationship to our children is paramount in how they receive our instruction, we have to take time to evaluate with prayer and thought on a constant basis how they feel about the relationship and how they view the strength of our ties. We may feel the relationship with our family is bulletproof but that doesn't make it so, we need to be sensitive to the needs of others. That's part of being humble, and when God sees our effort he applies his grace to our account! The thing about Gods kingdom, you can come bankrupt and in a few seconds be wealthy.