I watched a lecture Donald Miller gave a couple weeks ago in which he told a story about the family he lived with for some time. The story was of the youngest daughter in the family (3 maybe?) and her reaction at the dinner table one evening. The daughter did not want what was made, and desperatley wanted chicken nuggets. Miller went through the possible reactions the father could have had: screaming on the floor with the daugther saying "the world isn't fair, mom should have made us nuggets!", giving in to her demands saying "ok honey, we'll make you some nuggets... we just want to make you happy." or lastly, the right thing "i'm sorry, but this is what was made for dinner, you can eat with us, or you can go to your room."
In all of this Miller was parallelling how God is our father, and that what we want isn't always best for us. The daughter did not get her nuggets, but she learned respect and that the world doesn't revolve around her. How often do we get set on something and throw a tantrum when God doesn't give us what we want? To me, it's somehow easier to rationalize the crap that we go through if we think "ok, i don't really need the nuggets... God what are you trying to teach me?"
He ended the lecture with a story about this pink barbi jeep that drove around in the area where he lived. He always wanted to see the person who drove it. One day he got the chance. Out stepped a blonde plastic woman who had obviously gotten some upgrades. He explained that the first thought that came to mind was "they gave her the nuggets..."
