If you’re a parent and have ever taken your kids to the pool then you know the joy of covering your child in sunscreen. It is a time together that all parents and kids love and it comes with no stress or struggle… in BIZZARO world! There is only one reason we intentionally put ourselves through this torturous event; we do not want our child to get burned.

Last week as the family and I were getting ready to head to a water park, I was lathering up my 8 year old, Grant. I’m a bit OCD when it comes to this event and I was really focusing in on Grant’s face. As I went over his nose and under his eyes for the second or third time he said (through clinched eyes and in a bit of a frustrated tone), “You’ve already got that spot, why are you doing it again?” Without really thinking about it I replied, “This is an important spot and I don’t want you to get burned.”

That short exchange between Grant and I reverberated in my mind all day. After we had returned home from a great day at the park, I looked at Grant’s face and noticed that it had not been burned. That is when it hit me.

Too often with God I am like Grant was with me and the sunscreen. Sometimes it seems that God is teaching me the same lessons over and over. One of the areas that I’m confronted with often is my pride. I find myself during these lessons squinting my eyes and in a frustrated tone saying to God, “You’ve already got that spot, why are you going over it again?” (No hint of pride in that, huh?!?)

Philippians 1:6 states, “being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.”

As Grant’s dad, I’m hoping that he’ll remember the times I went over the same spot so that as he grows up he’ll think of covering that spot on his face himself to avoid being burned. Likewise, I am starting to see that the promise in Philippians 1:6 is God’s way of saying to me that He will continue to “go over the same spot“, as often as is needed, because as I grow up He hopes that I’ll start to cover that “spot” myself to avoid being burned.