A little Girls 10th Birthday

There once was this little girl who was turning 10 years old. It was her birthday. She asked her Father for what she had always wanted for her birthday. Her Father said "no"? She was very mad. Her Father said that he needed to leave for a while but would be right back. She was very mad. She went into the kitchen and started to pour out the contents to several containers on the floor. She was making a mess. She felt a little better. She had been a naughty girl sometimes in the past but had always cleaned up her mess before her Daddy got home. This time her anger caused her to continue. She didn't clean up her mess but continued to make a bigger and bigger mess. She knew that she could stop at any time and clean things up before her Father got home like the other times. She wanted to make sure that the kitchen was clean for her birthday. But she was very, very mad at her Father. She continued to make a bigger and bigger mess. It made her feel a little better. She was having so much fun (kind of) and it made her forget how mad she was at her Dad. So she made a little bit more of a mess. She was forgetting how mad she was and the more of a mess she made the better she felt (sort of). After a while she was starting to feel a little bad and realized that no matter how big of a mess she made it didn't make her feel much better. Than the clock struck "one". It was an hour before her birthday was to begin. She was scared. Her Father would be home any minute now. Her guests would start showing up and everybody would see how 'bad' she was. The mess she made was worst that any mess she had ever made before. She was scared. She knew that there was no way she could ever clean up this mess by herself. What could she do. She started to cry and she ran into her room and locked the door. She knew that she wouldn't be getting any presents this year. Nobody would come to her party, her Dad would cancel it for sure. She got on the floor and pulled her knees up to her chest and started to rock back and forth and she cried. Soon, she heard the front door open. She was so afraid. She didn't know what to do so she stayed in her room with the lights out. After a while she heard the door open again and she heard more people coming into the house. They would be so disappointed in her. They would see how bad she had been. She was so ashamed. She knew that they would leave in disgust. How would she ever face them again? But soon, she heard what sounded like talking and laughing. People were still in the house? Did they not see the mess? Were they just ignoring it? She cracked the door to her bedroom open just a bit and looked down the hall to the kitchen. The hall was a mess. It was a disaster. She slammed the door and ran to the back of her room and put her hands over her ears so she couldn't hear the guests and cried all the more. More time passed. She took her hands off her ears. She heard more laughing and talking. She heard people calling her name. She was so confused. Were they laughing at her? Were they waiting for her to come out so they could tell her what a bad girl she was? She was getting so mad again. Who were they to judge HER? She wasn't very, very bad. She was just a little naughty! She would show them. She threw open the door and started to march right out of her room, but she was overwhelmed by the mess she saw in the hall leading to the kitchen. She slunk back into her room. She would live in her room for the rest of her life. She would never ever face the faces of her friends and relatives. She could never look at her dad's eyes again. How could she? After a long, long time, it sounded like the party was winding down (how could they have had a party on HER birthday w/o HER?). She decided that she would at least start to clean up the mess in front of her bedroom by the hall. She cracked open the door. She couldn't believe her eyes. The mess was so bad! It would take her the rest of her life to clean it all up she knew. Well she might as well start. She started cleaning. It wasn't a very good job but it was the best that a little 10 year old could do. She tried with all her might. As she started around the corner leading to the kitchen she stopped and stared. She couldn't move. The kitchen was totally clean. It was spotless. It was like there was never a mess there before. She timidly walked out of the kitchen and into the living room. There were only a few guests left. She saw her Father watching her. She looked into his eyes. They were filled with tears. "Happy Birthday sweetheart" was all h
He said. She ran crying into his arms. "I'm so sorry that I made a mess in the kitchen Father. Before I realized what I did it was too much for me to clean." "I know my child, It WAS more than you could clean, but not more than I could clean. I was waiting for you to come out and ask for my help." The little girl was so ashamed. "Daddy I'm so sorry. I know that I don't deserve anything for my birthday and I'm sorry that I was mad at you." Her Father said, "Honey it's always your birthday and of course you deserve a present. I'm your Father and I LOVE giving to you. But it's not always what YOU want." Than from behind his back he pulled out the prettiest present the little girl had ever seen. She couldn't believe it. She never even dreamed that she deserved a present like this. How could she even ask for this if she never even dreamed that she could ever get it. It was the most awesome present that she could ever imagine...and it was her very own...

"...you do not have b/c you do not ask God" James 4:2


We do NOT have the ability to "clean up our mess"...only through God is it possible. He will clean our sins like it never happened, but we have to be able to face God (our Father) and ASK Him. How much time we spend fretting about our sins and our non ability to 'clean them up' when what we have to do is run into our Daddy's arms and say "I'm sorry". He will forgive us our sins but we first have to admit them and FULLY ask for forgiveness. Our sins are ours, nobody else. We have to accept our sins than God can heal us from them.