\u201cOffer it up\u201d is the mantra of\u00a0 my children\u2019s childhood.\u00a0 Don\u2019t want to clean your room?\u00a0 Hate the broccoli? \u201cOffer it up.\u00a0 Work on your parade!\u201d My children hear it daily.\u00a0 Your brother is annoying and you wanna kill him but don\u2019t? \u201cOffer it up!\u201d You skin your knee trying to ride your bike down the hill and don\u2019t scream because the baby is sleeping? (You\u2019re my new favorite child!) \u201cOffer it up!\u201d
When I was a girl, my grandmother would tell me this all the time.\u00a0 \u201cOffer it up!\u201d\u00a0 I was never really sure why God would want me to suffer through not biting my big brother, or politely eating the cauliflower that made me gag, but I\u2019d look up at Heaven anyway and think \u201cIf you want it, you\u2019ve got it\u2026\u2026why would you want it?\u201d
It wasn\u2019t until I was older that I figured it all out.\u00a0 God doesn\u2019t want our suffering.\u00a0 He wants our obedience.\u00a0 He wants our humility.\u00a0 He wants our charity.\u00a0 He wants our self-control. That\u2019s why we offer the pain, discomfort, and sorrow that we experience up to Him. Not because He desires those things, but because our acceptance of our own crosses become a prayer of obedience to Him.<\/p>\n