We were at dinner a few months back with our dear friends, Adam and Stephanie. They have a son, Aiden, only three months older than our son, Landon. These boys have been best buddies since the day they were born.
Okay I confess, with the friendship Adam and I have, they don’t have much of a choice.
I remember walking out from dinner that night beside Adam who was carrying Aiden on his shoulders. Landon held my hand beside me.
On our way through the parking lot I heard Adam ask, “Aiden, whose got it?”
Aiden emphatically shouted, “God’s got it.”
Now you see why we trust our son with these friends. On our way home that night I started teaching Landon the same principle, that no matter the circumstances in our lives we can trust that God’s got it.
However, this lesson didn’t go quite as smoothly in the Straub household. Every night I put Landon down to bed in the weeks following I would ask him, “Whose got it?”
“Whandon’s got it!” he would cheerfully say.
Not once could I get him to say, “God’s got it.”
Confused, I asked Christi one day, why she thought he kept doing that. That’s when the light bulb went on, “Josh” she said, “Every time I ask him to do a task around the house, I’ll encourage him by saying ‘You can do this; you got it buddy.’”
Hence, Landon’s got it.
We tried a few more times after that, but the saying slowly faded as we simply jumped right into our nighttime prayers for the next few months.
Until about two weeks ago—at the dinner table.
We were going through some pretty difficult times that had me more stressed and anxious than I am comfortable admitting. With much going on, Landon and I sat down for dinner while Christi tended to Kennedy in another room.
Focused on my dinner, I was clearly not my normal self with Landon that night, because out of nowhere, while eating his own dinner, he nonchalantly says, “God’s got it, dad.”
What?! I couldn’t believe it. The first time our two-year-old says, “God’s got it” is to me not for me—perhaps to tell me that if I’m going to teach it to him, I’d better live it too.
I’m not sure if he intended that, but it worked.
And truth be told, all of the anxiety I had about the situation was finally resolved this week in a way that only God could have pulled off.
Yes Landon, God’s got it.
Since that night I’ve learned two reasons why our kids need us to believe those three simple words:
1. The biggest culprit to being emotionally present and enjoying playful moments with our kids is worry.
When we’re worried, our brain goes into fight or flight mode, causing us to fixate on what we’re anxious about. The more attention we give the fear, the less we give to our kids.
Simply put, worry robs us from the joyful moments of play our kids crave from us.
2. No matter what you’re going through right now, God’s got it.
Do you trust him?
Or, for the piece of humble pie I received, here’s a better question: If I asked your kids if you trust him, what would they tell me?
Donyes says
Great Post!
dee Lundgren says
I’m so glad He’s got it because I sure don’t. Cute story out of the mouth of babes.