Be all that you can be. ? That statement always makes me laugh. We always hear people say " You can be anything you want to be." That one makes me laugh too. I mean, let's be real here ~ I could try for the rest of my life to BE a professional singer but the fact is, God did not gift me with a good singing voice and no matter how many voice lessons I take, I'll never be Celine Dion! ( Or anywhere close.) I could also try really, really hard to be a professional basketball player. That would lead to me having a really depressed life full of failure and a lot of time wasted and probably money too because I'm not very athletic, tall or coordinated enough to probably even make a small town team.
A long time ago I had a Sunday school teacher who came to class and said " Be all that you can be - in the ARMY. Have you all heard that song on that commercial?" We all nodded. "Well" he said " I'm going to tell you that that song and statement are very wrong. We should never try to be all that we can be in anything other than the Lord. Now, if the Lord wants you to be in the Army, he'll get you there - you just need to be all that you can be in HIM."
I was reminded of all this while reading to my kids our book of "Devotions for the Children's Hour"
by Kenneth N. Taylor and I liked how they touched on this subject and said it better than the teachers you hear today proclaiming that you can be anything you want to be if you just put your mind to it so I'll copy from the book here: "Have you ever wondered what you ought to be when you get big? There are so many things you could be that probably you have wondered how to decide which is best. You could be a doctor, farmer, teacher or typist, or hundreds of other things. But there is Someone who knows just exactly what you ought to be. That Someone is God, and He will gladly tell you what you should be when it is the right time for you to know. So you don't need to worry about it! How will God tell you? There are many ways that He can speak to you. One of the ways is by the abilities He gives you. Some boys are very good ball players, and some are not. Some girls are good at singing, and some aren't good singers at all. If God has made you so that you aren't good at playing ball, then probably He doesn't want you to spend your life as a ball player! But perhaps instead He has made you so that you are a very good musician and can play the piano, violin or trumpet. Or perhaps He has made you so that after you have gone to school long enough you will be able to do all the things a doctor or a farmer can. If you discover that God has made you so that you would like to be a farmer, but you wouldn't at all enjoy being a doctor, then that is one of the ways you will know that God probably doesn't want you to be a doctor. It is a good idea to think about the many kinds of work there are to do and then think about which you would like. As you become bigger it is quite probable that one thing in particular will be just what you would want to do. God will make you know whether it is the right thing for you if you ask Him. Some boys and girls seem to know all the time just what they want to be when they are older, but others don't know until many years have gone by and they have finished school. Sometimes God wants people to wait until they are grown up before He tells them - you just need to trust Him and when the right time comes, you will know." Three of my children have had a pretty good idea of what they'd like to be when they grow up ever since they could talk and one of my kids has no idea what she'd like to be yet. That's okay, just as long as they follow God's guidance for everything in their lives. (
The photos for this post are of our Little J when he got to go spend a whole day at work with 'Daddy'. He has always told us he wants to be a big fireman and also work on cars and trucks so riding on the big machinery at Daddy's work was a real treat for him. )
Be all that you can be. ? That statement always makes me laugh. We always hear people say " You can be anything you want to be." That one makes me laugh too. I mean, let's be real here ~ I could try for the rest of my life to BE a professional singer but the fact is, God did not gift me with a good singing voice and no matter how many voice lessons I take, I'll never be Celine Dion! ( Or anywhere close.) I could also try really, really hard to be a professional basketball player. That would lead to me having a really depressed life full of failure and a lot of time wasted and probably money too because I'm not very athletic, tall or coordinated enough to probably even make a small town team.
A long time ago I had a Sunday school teacher who came to class and said " Be all that you can be - in the ARMY. Have you all heard that song on that commercial?" We all nodded. "Well" he said " I'm going to tell you that that song and statement are very wrong. We should never try to be all that we can be in anything other than the Lord. Now, if the Lord wants you to be in the Army, he'll get you there - you just need to be all that you can be in HIM."
I was reminded of all this while reading to my kids our book of "Devotions for the Children's Hour" by Kenneth N. Taylor and I liked how they touched on this subject and said it better than the teachers you hear today proclaiming that you can be anything you want to be if you just put your mind to it so I'll copy from the book here: "Have you ever wondered what you ought to be when you get big? There are so many things you could be that probably you have wondered how to decide which is best. You could be a doctor, farmer, teacher or typist, or hundreds of other things. But there is Someone who knows just exactly what you ought to be. That Someone is God, and He will gladly tell you what you should be when it is the right time for you to know. So you don't need to worry about it! How will God tell you? There are many ways that He can speak to you. One of the ways is by the abilities He gives you. Some boys are very good ball players, and some are not. Some girls are good at singing, and some aren't good singers at all. If God has made you so that you aren't good at playing ball, then probably He doesn't want you to spend your life as a ball player! But perhaps instead He has made you so that you are a very good musician and can play the piano, violin or trumpet. Or perhaps He has made you so that after you have gone to school long enough you will be able to do all the things a doctor or a farmer can. If you discover that God has made you so that you would like to be a farmer, but you wouldn't at all enjoy being a doctor, then that is one of the ways you will know that God probably doesn't want you to be a doctor. It is a good idea to think about the many kinds of work there are to do and then think about which you would like. As you become bigger it is quite probable that one thing in particular will be just what you would want to do. God will make you know whether it is the right thing for you if you ask Him. Some boys and girls seem to know all the time just what they want to be when they are older, but others don't know until many years have gone by and they have finished school. Sometimes God wants people to wait until they are grown up before He tells them - you just need to trust Him and when the right time comes, you will know." Three of my children have had a pretty good idea of what they'd like to be when they grow up ever since they could talk and one of my kids has no idea what she'd like to be yet. That's okay, just as long as they follow God's guidance for everything in their lives. ( The photos for this post are of our Little J when he got to go spend a whole day at work with 'Daddy'. He has always told us he wants to be a big fireman and also work on cars and trucks so riding on the big machinery at Daddy's work was a real treat for him. )
3 comments:
So true! I think your kids, my grandkids,are already enjoying themselves working hard doing the many productive things they do every day. They are showing good work ethics too, even better, trying to do what God wants them to do. Great post.
Well said! This post makes a lot of sense. You can only be who God has created you to be. :-)
I have been so busy and sick that I was way behind in the blog reading glad to see all is well at your place I really liked the Gold Chair and I am looking forward to my Spring cleaning in another month or so.We are on the go a little also. We are headed to Amish country in April.(Southwest Minnesota) We just went up North for a few days and had a great time.
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