"Too Big for Your Britches!"

I always enjoy a good story that can make me laugh out loud, especially if it involves members of my own family! My family lives in the midwest but we do have relatives from the south. My dad was basically raised in southern Missouri but he does not really speak with a southern accent, however he does use "southern" phrases or slang that always makes me giggle. When I was younger he would say things like, "I garantee you...." The word should be guarantee, but the way that my dad said it was GAR-UN-TEE. Of course I believe he yelled that from the other room at my sister and myself when we were supposed to be cleaning up the kitchen from supper, but it ended in a food fight! The minute he left the room we just fell down laughing! We will tell this story and others like it when we all get together, but usually my children don't understand what we find so funny about it, until they experience a similar situation themselves. That is exactly what happened to my daughter when she was staying at my parent's house. My parents have a child's four-wheeler that all the kids ride when they go over to their house. My parents live on a busy street so my dad tells the kids to keep the four-wheeler in the backyard and not to go around front. My daughter sometimes tends to think that rules do not apply to her, so she decided that she would quickly ride around the front, just to see if she could get away with it! Well, my dad came into the house at the same time my daughter came in and he had just witnessed her driving in the front of the house. My dad reprimanded her and told her that if she did it again she would not be allowed to ride the four-wheeler anymore that day. He also said, "You need to listen to Pa. You are just getting too big for your britches!" My dad then left the room and my daughter with a confused look on her face just looked at my mom and said, "Nanny I don't even know what britches are?!" Of course we all had a good laugh on that one-but we did explain to her that it meant she needed to follow the rules and that she needed to obey what her elders say, even if she thought differently. I got to thinking about that phrase, "Too big for your britches" and I realized that sometimes when it comes to my relationship with God I may be getting "too big for my britches." We are supposed to be humble before God and to follow His ways, not our own. I am reading the book of Isaiah and it is pretty intense. In this book, God sends Isaiah to preach to these nations that have not been following God, but instead they are following other leaders or their own ways instead of His. Isaiah preaches with a fury and a passion about how God is always there if we can just humble ourselves enough to ask Him for help and guidance. In Isaiah 23:9 it says, "It was the Lord All-Powerful who planned this. He decided to make these proud people unimportant; he decided to disgrace those who were greatly respected." It also says in Matthew 23:12, "Whoever makes himself great will be made humble. Whoever makes himself humble will be made great." In other words, don't get "too big for your britches!" Those who do not humble themselves will be punished-it is the way of parents. Just as my daughter was not allowed to ride on the four-wheeler the rest of the day, we will also be punished or reprimanded by God if we do not obey Him. I want to be humble and have a servant's heart, but I am only human. I will fail and I will inevitably disobey. The good news is that when I do "get too big for my britches" God will still be there to give me a second chance and accept me for who I can become in Him, not who I have been without Him. Blessings-Nicole