“Can I push the stroller, Mommy?”

I looked down at my 2 year old daughter, then nodded. “Okay, but let me take your brother out first.”

I pulled my 6 month old out of the stroller, then adjusted the handlebars low enough for my daughter to reach.

“Try to stay on the path,” I said, stepping out of the way.

Eagerly, she gripped the handle and began pushing. Within a few feet, the stroller angled off the path.

She stopped.

I stopped behind her, then quickly stepped out of the way as she backed up until the stroller was on the path again.

Happily, she resumed pushing the stroller along the path.

Following along behind, I wasn’t concerned when I saw her heading off the side again. Our path was surrounded by flat grass, and nobody else was on the path to be crashed into.

Again, my daughter stopped, backed up to realign, then pushed forward.

When she veered off to the side again a few feet later, she again stopped, backed up, and pushed onward.

It was very slow, clumsy progress.

Eventually, as I watched this pattern repeat again and again, I clued in to the problem. My daughter couldn’t see over the top of the stroller. She was steering blind.

All she could see was where her feet stood on the sidewalk and perhaps half a step forward. This wasn’t enough to allow her to steer successfully.

Why bring this up?

So often in life, I am like my 2 year old daughter in the story above.

I cannot see where I am going beyond the very place where I am standing.

Sure, I can look down at where my feet are and perhaps see half a step forwards, but I have no idea if the path is about to turn or continue straight.

Thankfully, I know the One who can see, and He wants to help me. 

Sometimes, when I allow my daughter to push, I walk alongside the stroller with my hand on it. I direct where it goes. I keep it on the path for my daughter knowing she cannot.

God desires to do this for me. He wants to help me stay on the path. 

If I stubbornly refuse to do things His way, He will step back and let me try my hand at keeping my life on the path.

That never ends well.

Today, may I submit to God’s direction and ask Him to help me keep my life on the path. He will help me.

 

“Your Word is a lamp for my feet and a light on my path.” Psalm 119:105 CSB

“A person’s heart plans his way, but the Lord determines his steps.” Proverbs 16:9 CSB

My husband opened his office door at the end of another work-from-home day.

“Hello!” I gave him a hug, then stepped back. “You’re boiling.”

“It’s a sunny day,” he replied.

I stepped past him into the office. “It’s sweltering in here. I don’t know how you function.”

He shrugged. “My computer blacked out in the middle of a call again today.”

I glanced from the wide open window to the temperature sensor on the shelf. “31°C (88°F). There must be something we can do to make it better.”

“Daddy!” Our daughter ran towards him for a hug.

Our 1 year old toddled along behind.

“It’s time for supper,” I announced.

My husband glanced over the kids’ heads. “Yay. I’m hungry.”

Later that evening, as our fans hummed trying to bring the cooler evening air into our house, my mind wandered back to the challenge of the too-hot office. What could we do about it?

We had looked into air conditioning. Several of our neighbors had it. We went so far as getting quotes.

The extreme price tag for having air conditioning installed made us question whether it was worth it for us. Maybe there was something less costly we could try first?

In some locations, air conditioning, or other strategies for handling heat, is critical. Where I live, the outside temperature rarely passes 31°C (88°F), and the nights are always cooler. While air conditioning is a convenience, it is a luxury, not a necessity for me.

I was determined that there must be something more cost-effective we could try.

After some research, we came up with the idea of UV blocking window tinting film. It was far less expensive.

We ordered a roll.

When it arrived, my husband put it up with the help of our 3 year old, while I did my best to keep our 1 year old out of the way.

“Well, it’s up,” my husband called from the office.

I scooped up my 1 year old and crossed the hallway.

“Good,” I said, stepping into the room.

My husband was trying to rub the last few stubborn bubbles out of the tinting film.

My 1 year old wiggled to be put down. I hesitated, trying to decipher what had caught his attention.

He wanted the spray bottle my daughter had just put down.

I decided to let him down. He hadn’t figured out how to squirt spray bottles yet. Besides, the spray bottle was filled with water and a hint of dish soap – nothing too harmful.

I moved to inspect the tinted window more closely. The film hampered the view more than I’d hoped. The tree across the way looked blurry and was tinted blue.

“Definitely makes it harder to see out.” I commented, knowing how much my husband enjoyed having a window in his office. “If it’s too bothersome, you can take it off.”

“We can wait and see how much of a difference it makes.”

“Sounds like a good plan.” 

In the following days, it did seem that the tinting helped reduce the heat of the sunshine streaming into the office.

Why do I share this? Because a couple of weeks later, I found myself thinking of the hidden allegory in this story. It is a sober reminder for me.

If I think of the sunshine as Son-shine, or God at work in me, and of my life as a house, the allegory begins to form.

In the story above, I wanted to keep the warmth of the sunshine out of our house.

When I first thought of this allegory, I right away reasoned that this is the opposite of what’s true in our lives. We want God in our lives.

But do we?

What if there is a room in my life I have decided I would prefer to keep luke-warm? Have I put up a tinting film to keep much of God’s Sonshine out?

True, it can get uncomfortable when God focuses on an area of my life that needs to improve. It can hurt.

Yet the reward of peace and joy that follows when I fully surrender that area to God is so worth it. The fruit that comes is wonderful.

God wants all of me. He doesn’t want me holding back.

I am instructed to “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength.'” (Luke 10:27 CSB)(Similar to Deut. 6:5)

Okay, that’s a very familiar verse. The question is, do I live it? If I am being honest with myself, do I love God this fully?

No. I need to keep growing in my love for God. I need to be asking God to help me clear those tinted windows to let His love and truth come in.

He will help me.

A cheery melody floated through the open window as my daughter and I sat playing.

I glanced at the hot sunny day outside.

A minute later, my daughter perked up having caught wind of the music.

“What’s that?” She asked.

By now the melody was getting louder.

“It sounds like an ice cream truck is coming.”

My daughter jumped up and peered out the window. “Where?”

“I hear it coming, but we might have to wait a little until we can see it.”

We waited at the window, looking for the truck as the music became louder still.

I glanced down at my little one. “When the ice cream truck comes, we won’t wave at him. Otherwise he will think we want to buy ice cream, but we already have ice cream in our freezer.”

“Okay,” she replied easily.

Suddenly she pointed. “There it is! There’s the ice cream truck!”

“I see it too!” I said.

As the large truck came around the corner, its friendly tune blared.

My daughter bounced on her toes.

“It’s green and blue.” She exclaimed.

We watched eagerly as the truck rolled lazily along. He stopped near our window for a long pause, but when no customers came, he moved on. Soon he was out of sight.

As we listened to the last strains of the cheery music, I scrunched up my nose.

“What’s that stinky smell?”

I glanced over at my husband as recognition dawned. “The ice cream truck must have been diesel.”

I closed the windows on the side of the house where the truck had idled, but left the windows on the other side of the house open to allow the fresh air to push out the diesel smell. 

As the dense diesel stench continued to linger, I frowned out the window. I was rather displeased with that ice cream truck. So much for being sweet and child-friendly. It had filled our home with nasty fumes.

Eventually the stink faded and I forgot about the incident. I forgot, that is, until later that evening when I took my daughter upstairs to bed. Her room still held a distinctive diesel stench. Her window had been open when the ice cream truck went by.

So what? Why share this unpleasant story?

This moment has stuck in my head as a clear allegorical warning.

Watch out for false teachers.

Not everyone who presents themselves as a good clean wholesome instructor is good. Some may simply be sugar-coating, or in this case, ice-cream-coating toxic ideas that cause great harm.

This is true as we look at the world around us.

There are so many ideas and perspectives out there. We run into them on social media, in the news, in books, in music. Some are good and helpful. Others lead to terrible trouble.

Discernment is needed to sort through the good and the bad.

As Christians, much discernment is needed in regards to those who teach about the Bible.

Even in Bible-times there were false teachers. Those who would take Scripture and twist it in order to get across the message they wanted to share rather than honestly seeking to share what God was saying in that passage.

Peter tells us, “there will be false teachers among you. They will secretly introduce destructive heresies, even denying the sovereign Lord who bought them—bringing swift destruction on themselves. Many will follow their depraved conduct and will bring the way of truth into disrepute. In their greed these teachers will exploit you with fabricated stories.” (2 Peter 2:1b-3a NIV)

So how do we spot these false teachers?

Looking at how they live their life is a huge clue.

“Remember your leaders, who spoke the word of God to you. Consider the outcome of their way of life and imitate their faith.” (Hebrews 13:7NIV)

Along with watching how they live their lives, we must know the Bible for ourselves.

How do I know if a Bible verse is out of context? By being familiar with the chapter it was taken from.

When was the last time you read the whole Bible?

Did you know that by reading one chapter a day you can read the entire Bible in just over three years? To help you out, I have a DIY Bible Reading chart to help track your progress. It’s free for everyone on my email list (click the subscriber freebie link in a recent email). Not on my email list? You can sign up below. 

With so many Bible teachers available to us online, how do we choose which to listen to? Here’s a link with some of my favourites when I’m looking for a short devotional to read or listen to. Like with all teachers, use your discretion.
Grow Your Faith: 5 Inspiring and Free Christian Devotionals