Who has the attitude?

I went to the annual parent teacher conference last night at Kelly Middle School. I have to tell you I've been pretty fortunate over the years. All three of my girls liked school and they all did well. This year's teacher meeting was no different. The teachers had glowing remarks about my daughter. They pointed out a few areas where she was working hard and my wife and I left feeling pretty good.

The one area of concern I had was with her grade in gym. The mid term showed her receiving an average grade. I decided to stop by to see the gym teacher to see what I could do to encourage her. Well he wasn't where he was supposed to be but another teacher helped me find him. When I asked him about my daughter, he kind of shrugged and said she had an attitude and that she didn't participate.

I thought it was funny that he was modeling exactly what she was supposed to be doing. He didn't bother to get up and greet me. He stayed on the other side of the room and just shrugged a lot. I could have walked away thinking he didn't care about his students, but I was willing to give him the benefit of the doubt. I went home and told my daughter she had to get more involved.

It got me thinking afterwards about how we approach God sometimes. I think we project a lot onto him. We go to God thinking our prayers won't make any difference. We go to God thinking He is angry with us. We go to God thinking He is aloof and distant. Too often we get what we are looking for.

It is not good to prejudge anyone, especially God. The truth is that God does care and he is invested in us. So if we go to Him with an open mind, we will often discover that He has been with us all along.

Cal