"No Mommy!" [frown] "Mommy I do not want to wear that! It’s not stylish!"

This is the a common theme at my house with my little girl. She is always putting up a fight with her Mom and Grandmother when it comes to dressing.

I'm sharing this experience in direct response to a friend's response to my last post (G! Something keeps pulling me down!). Her response was very interesting to me... she correlated the context of my post to a movie that seems to have a strong "cultic" following ("The Secret") and asked me for my perspective.

I did not have any information about this movie (I didn't even know it existed)... so I went on to read about it.

After reading about it, it was hard to take a stance on it (in the context of her comment)... why? Well, because it promotes good behavior... but at the same time it is related to the "New Thought" and "Law of attraction" movement. So, I decided to think it through for a day or two.

Without getting too much into the "Law of attraction" and the "Old Thought" ("New Thought" is actually very old! Wikipedia has it starting during the 19th century)... I'll address (in a subtle manner) those two philosophies in my next post.

So... back to my little girl and her never ending struggle to wear what she wants.

My friend's comment included the following, she said:

"...sometimes in life, I know things are going to happen. I can just feel them. More often, I know when something is not going to happen. Does that make sense?"

My response to that is that it makes a tone of sense! Some people may call it intuition, while others call it discernment (I myself call it the latter of the two). With that said, let me tackle some of the topics that surround some of the philosophies employed by those two movements:

• "Everything is up to you!"
• "Go and get it... it's there to be had!"
• "There is no sovereign God! You are God!"
• "You shall be like God!"

(note that I am not providing references... I'm paraphrasing from some of the things I read)

Some people have a hard time accepting that God is sovereign. I understand that we all have a choice to make... from my faith's point of view, having a choice to make is very biblical.

However, God's sovereignty, if you change your perspective a bit, is unquestionable and quite interesting. He knows how to influence our choices. Allow me to illustrate it with what happens at home when my little angel is throwing a fit... as noted, there certain outfits she hates to wear ("Mom that's not stylish" - BTW, I must say... "Thanks a lot Fancy Nancy!" - she was the culprit!).

So... what is a parent to do? Those clothing are perfect for the occasion and "not stylish" should not be the reason for her not to wear them. Hmmm.. so Mommy, of course, knows her little angel very well! So she gives her two choices that would, of course, drive her to make the choice that Mommy had already made for her! :-) I know we have all done this. To my friend I say, "I know you must have done this yourself with Sugar and Spice!" :-)

I'll give you another example; I didn't think my wife and I were going to make it at one point (before marriage)... We were fed up with each other. However, God’s views on things were different... and He had already determined that we were good for each other (without getting our inputs but knowing our heart’s desires and needs). Perhaps we were not the most "stylish" for each other! Yet, we were just right for the "occasion".

So... what is a heavenly Parent to do? Well God decided to put the both of us in a spot where we had to make a choice... but guess what! He knew us and knew what buttons to push and which nerves to touch... So the choice was made! My wife and I both made the choice, yet the choices were given by Him! And sure enough... the rest is history! Some of you might have read or seen some of the scenes in the play!

Now, here I am, six years later about to have my sixth wedding anniversary... deeply in love with the wife God gave me! :-)

Thanks for taking a stroll through my journey!