Asking for Onions instead of Apples

Posted on by juniperjen4jesus

IMG_1359

Jinger (age 2) came to me the other day with a huge onion in her hands. She handed it to me and announced, “I want apple”. I told her that this was an onion, not an apple, so she couldn’t have any. Oh the meltdown that ensued. She cried huge tears as she mourned over the “Apple” that she wasn’t allowed to eat. I just stared at her with a mixture of amusement and frustration because of an obvious language barrier. I shook my head as she cried so hard over something she THOUGHT she wanted.

Something occurred to me after this incident. How many times have I begged God for something that I just KNEW I needed or wanted and yet when I didn’t get it, I wept bitterly? But doesn’t God give us the DESIRES of our HEARTS?? How about the times that God has removed something from my life? Those times I cry out  to Him, uncertain of my future. Surely it was a mistake, right? He didn’t mean for something I valued so highly to be taken from me. Right?

We can often be just like 2 year old Jinger. We see things from our limited perspective only. We cry and whine when things don’t go our way. But what if we could see things from God’s perspective? How foolish we would look. He may just want to take away the onions so we can have the apples. The good stuff! But we grab on tighter to the onions in our lives and think that we know best. How many times have we settled for less when we could’ve done things God’s way? His way is ALWAYS better. We are told, “DELIGHT thyself also in the Lord: and he shall give thee the desires of thine heart.” (Psalm 37:4). Guess what? When we are TRULY DELIGHTING in our Lord, we suddenly see life from a completely different angle. His. Suddenly our perspective on EVERYTHING changes. We see things how the Lord sees them. Our desires begin to align with His. We realize that big houses, boats, fame, fortune and vacations are all meaningless things to focus on. Delighting in the Lord and aiming to please Him alone in all areas of our lives is what matters most. It’s when we see things from His perspective alone, that our eyes are opened. We can finally see the onions for what they truly are – a distraction from the apples that God has in store for us. So let go! And give the control over to God alone.

IMG_1360

5 thoughts on “Asking for Onions instead of Apples”

  1. Makes me think of this quote from C.S. Lewis:

    “It would seem that Our Lord finds our desires not too strong, but too weak. We are half-hearted creatures, fooling about with drink and sex and ambition when infinite joy is offered us, like an ignorant child who wants to go on making mud pies in a slum because he cannot imagine what is meant by the offer of a holiday at the sea. We are far too easily pleased.”

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

    1. LOVE that quote, Hannah!! Thanks for sharing it. Right after I wrote this, we found out we have to come up with $6,500 for a new A/C unit. Lol. I knew better than to write something like this. Immediate testing followed. Haha! I am just waiting for God to move because there’s nothing I can do in my own power. It will have to be all Him. 🙂

      Like

      Reply

      2. Hannah, I’ll have to tell you sometime how God provided every last penny for our A/C unit. He’s amazing like that! We may be in FL next week, depending on the current clean-up situation in our hometown. Hoping we get to see you guys!

        Like

Leave a comment