You will show me the way of life, granting me the joy of your presence and the pleasures of living with you forever. Psalm 16:11

"What Did You Wish For?"

            My seven-year-old granddaughter, Zoe, for several years now, has used Duplo blocks to build a pretend cake of many colors for me when she comes over to play. The blue blocks, she tells me, are blueberry flavored, the red ones, strawberry, the yellow ones, pineapple, and so on. She decorates the "cake" with a Duplo tower and flowers which serve as pretend candles, brings the cake to me and tells me to make a wish before I pretend to blow out the candles. Then she serves me a cube of cake in the "flavor" of my choice. It's one of her childhood rituals I'll miss a lot when she outgrows it.

            A few months ago, after I'd made my Duplo cake wish, she smiled and asked what I'd wished for. I told her honestly, that I'd wished that a student of mine who was causing problems in one of my classes would just drop the class. (That that was the first thing that came to mind, even during playtime with my granddaughter, lets you know just how all-consuming and stressful the situation had become.) Her smile disappeared.

            I asked what she usually wished for before blowing out candles.

            "I always wish that all my family will be safe," she said.

            Um, yeah.

            "That's a much better wish," I told her.

            She nodded.

            When King David was fleeing from his son Absalom, who was trying to take over the kingdom, a man named Shimei, from the tribe of Saul rushed out of a nearby village and began throwing both curses and stones at David and his men. One of David's fighting men offered to make the man stop. Permanently. But David refused, saying that perhaps the Lord had sent the man to curse him. David understood why the man had something against him. After all, to a relative of Saul who didn't have the benefit of first-hand knowledge that the Lord himself had chosen David to succeed Saul as king of Israel, David must have seemed like a usurper.

            After refusing to let his officers and warriors hurt the man who was disrespecting him, David concluded, "And perhaps the Lord will see that I am being wronged and will bless me because of these curses today" (II Samuel 16:12).

            Well, now, that's a different perspective on being harassed! It's a great reminder that every battle—even the one fought with words—belongs to the Lord.

            "You may ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it," Jesus said (John 14:14).

            But if I had turned my pretend Duplo cake wish into an actual prayer, could I have asked that in Jesus' name? Is that a prayer the Lord (who loves the persecutor as much as the persecuted) would honor? I don't think so.

            David had it right. Let the guy do his thing; I'll do mine and wait for the Lord to make things right.

            My granddaughter, Zoe, had it right, too. In your pretend wishes and very real prayers, always put others' well-being above your own.

            An ancient king and a modern child can teach us a lot, if we'll listen.

Daye Phillippo

June 2019