I know that I'm commanded to rest in Christ.  I know that His yoke is easy and His burden, light.  And yet, there are so many things I try to do on my own.  I try to love Steve better; serve more faithfully; give more sacrifically.  And yet, in my own strength, I fail.   Still, I push, I pull, I squirm, I work, work, work, hoping to succeed.  That's the motto, right?  Try, try again.  But alone, my trying is in vain and I find that I make no progress.    

At about three months old, well before the time he could scoot or crawl, Casey decided he wanted to move.  Or so Corey, then two, and Kevin, three, informed me.  I had noticed that Casey, while lying around on the living room floor, would crane his neck in order to watch his active brothers on the go;  when they'd leave the room Casey would cry, then grunt and groan in an attempt to follow. 

One morning, as I came in with an armload of cothes to fold, I was shocked to find Casey halfway across the living room--all smiles!   "How on earth?" I wondered.  I need not wonder for long.  Kevin and Corey marched in and resumed their positions alongside their prostrate little brother.  With Kevin at Casey's head, and Corey at his feet, the two older brother began to lovingly roll their young sibling across the floor like a sack of potatoes.  "Casey likes it!" Corey announced.  He was right.  The smile never our infant's face.  Nor do I remember it ever leaving his face while being rolled...for the next three months! 

I often think of those days and the lesson I learned from our three young sons.  Casey didn't do a bit of work in order to travel from room to room; he simply rested and trusted in the loving care of his two "big" brothers.  Why then, do I fail to rest in the guiding arms of a perfectly loving Father?  All my grunts and groans won't get me anywhere. 

Traveling will always be more successful as a sack of potatoes in the Lord's hands than as a mule pulling against the Master.