Abracadabra...

Sierra, my 6 year old, and I went to dinner with my mom tonight. It had been a big day. Her big sister is on a girl scout trip so she has had mom and dad all to herself. Today she had mom and Nana all to herself. Glory! Anyway we were at a Cuban Restaurant and mom and I had ordered our drinks, mint tea. Sierra ordered lemonade, but our drinks came first, and our drinks were fancy with lemon wheels and lime wedges. Out of the corner of my eye I watched Sierra bow her head and fold her hands to pray. I knew immediately what she was she was doing. I asked if she was praying to God the great magician. "I want that on my drink. I want one of those", she said pointing to the lemon wheel. "So you are praying for God to do a magic trick" I asked half smiling. I told her she could have mine if she didn't get one on her drink. And then I proceeded with the following:
Well sometimes God works that way but what I know from the Bible is that God has given us all gifts and abilities and he expects us to use them. It is pretty awesome that you went to God first though. And so on...
We all do the same thing don't we? Sometimes we sit back and expect God to do some kind of cosmic magic trick. It's not that He can't but I think He expects more from us. God has partnered with humankind since the beginning of creation and God does not change. We are all uniquely gifted and purposed, we all are on a trajectory into God's story. We can set back and hope for the best and let life pass us by or we can use those God-given gifts and talents and live into those purposes and all of their implications.
Oh ya, as soon as Sierra's drink arrived sans the lemon wheel she snatched mine!