Dependence is a Nuisance

The other night I experienced absolute helplessness. Our crazy house alarm developed a mysterious beep. Every 5 minutes or so, it would randomly begin chirping a high pitch noise and continue doing so until I entered the code. This began around bedtime, then continued ALL NIGHT LONG, gradually starting every minute and then around 2 a.m. becoming unstoppable. I tried everything imaginable, read and reread the manual, called the closed helpline, called the unavailable installer, researched online, and then at around 3 accepted the sad fact that this problem was out of my hands and too big for me to handle alone. The family ended up holing up in the girls' room with the fan on high blast, trying to drown out the noise and at least get a little bit of sleep before daylight. The next morning, the installer called apologetically and gave me the secret code to turn the volume down and the beep off. It was a night of frustration, to put it mildly. I was totally dependent upon others, who were not available to help. There literally was NO way for me to fix it on my own. I came to the conclusion that dependence is a nuisance!

I realized depending on someone else to do something for you is not only annoying, but very humbling. My poor children! Every day, and pretty much every hour, they are in a helpless state in some sort of way and absolutely dependent on me to "save" them, as it were. I guess that is the point of childhood, start out totally relying on others and slowly over the years develop independence and self-reliance, with an acceptance that somethings are dependent on others no matter what you do. In the meantime, you are humbled and see that something bigger and greater than you is out there in control of it all. Hopefully, you have someone who deserves that trust and is reliable, not unavailable, closed, or too busy.

How blessed we are in having the always available, never closed, and never too busy Father looking out for us. No matter how we may try to handle it all alone, or think we are self-reliant, being dependent on Him is never a nuisance and always the best answer.