In the Shadow

I recently took my son to the park on a beautiful, sunny day. He enjoyed our time there on the swings, the slide, playing hide-and-go-seek on, under, and around the play gym, and rolling his ball up and down the slide. As we were leaving, I realized the hot noon sun was bearing down on him. We had a good distance to walk back to the car with no shade to protect us. I decided to position myself between him and the sun, so he could walk in my shadow. He didn't seem to want that! As he realized he was in my shadow, he stopped, causing me to pass him up. I stopped and waited for him, then continued to shield him from the sunlight. He stopped again, then took off ahead of me to keep me from placing him in the "dark". At first, I believed he thought it was a game, but then I noticed he was getting frustrated, and he even said, "don't want it!" The boy didn't want to be in my shadow!

I immediately wondered if we are that way sometimes with God. He desires to Father us, and knows that sometimes we need to be protected from the "elements". This may, at times, require him to place us within his "shadow". We, on the other hand, don't always see His protection. We see a situation where we aren't in the "sunlight", and we presume something is wrong. We fight for our right to be in that light, reaching for that which could "burn" us as we reject God's protection.

There are many ways we could interpret or apply this to our individual lives, but perhaps we should simply consider this: The next time we feel we've been placed "in the shadows", maybe we should ask God if He has placed us there for our own good before we start complaining.