Growing up, one of my daddy’s instructional sayings to us when we would start to act a little {or a lot} above or beyond our life station (more prideful or grandiose than we should, older than we should, more knowledgeable than we were…) was for us to “get back in your britches.” We all knew what that meant. And we all knew that if we didn’t humble ourselves and get ourselves “back in our britches,” the next step was that Daddy would do whatever it took to help us get there. Pronto.
He and my mom weren’t going to have any of their children walking around for too long outside of our britches, that was for sure! Their methods varied, but their purposes remained steadfast: To train their children to remain humbly submissive to the authority placed over them, to be grateful for what was provided for them, and to realize that everything we were, had, got to do, and in actuality all that happened to us was all part of God’s plan for His glory through us to this world around us. That’s how we were raised. And when we began to think more of ourselves than we ought then act on it, we were quickly warned to “get back in our britches.”
As an adult child of my Heavenly Daddy, every once in a while I find that I still need an occasional warning to “get back in my britches.” Do you?
When I begin to act more prideful than I should… more knowledgeable than I am… thinking of myself above others… looking around and comparing my situation to theirs and wondering “why”… or wondering “well – what about that –>, Lord?”… or finger pointing of any kind… or taking my eyes off of Jesus for ANY reason and putting them on myself, or on my circumstances, or on the awesome things happening to others… ALL of these things get me out of my britches.
Are you in your britches today?
Like the loving and wonderful Daddy that He is, God is concerned for the big picture of our growth and life – humble submission to His plan, gratefulness to Him for everything, and His glory displayed through our lives to the watching world around us. Not because He is narcissistic, but because He created us in such a way that this is how we function at our BEST. We function best when we are in our britches!
One day not long ago, I was whining praying in a spirit of entitlement – you know… making my many requests known (feeling that some were unusually large at the time), but punctuating them with reminders of recent acts of obedience and faithfulness {just for good measure, mind you – in case our Omniscient God somehow didn’t remember my latest one-millionth-of-a-millimeter-sized-filthy-rag-offering of submission or obedience}.
Anyway, I was listing out my virtues to the Lord when I heard the memory of the story of my daddy’s voice tell my sister something the first week of the summer she moved back home from college after her freshman year. She was enjoying exerting her newly found independence, but that wasn’t working as well for her back at home with the family as it did on the college campus. So Daddy walked by her, put his arm around her, and said, “Bec, I’m gonna’ give you a week to get back in your britches, then I’m gonna’ tend to you.” {Now what “tend to you” to a college student meant – we will never know – we never had to find out – because Bec… she got herself right back into her britches! And fast! (And she did this not out of fear of “being tended to – but because she knew life would be much better for her at home “in her britches” than it would be for her out of them.)}
So as I was prayer-whining, somehow in my Scripture study for the day I ended up in Romans 11, and by the time I got to verse 33, I could feel that gentle arm of the Father saddle up beside me and say the same thing… “Jen, I’m going to give you a few more moments to get back into your britches… then I’m going to tend to you.” Yikes!
Oh what a LOVING Daddy we have! Even when He has to “tend to us” – it’s not because He doesn’t love us – it’s because He does… and because He wants us to stay on the path that is best for us, that will keep us at peace with Himself, with ourselves, and within the Family of God.
Have you been feeling out of sorts with God, with yourself, or with others lately? Have you been acting more prideful than you should… more knowledgeable than you are… thinking of yourself above others… looking around and comparing your situation to theirs and wondering “why”… or wondering “well – what about that –>, Lord?”… or finger pointing of any kind… or taking you eyes off of Jesus for ANY reason and putting them on yourself, or on your circumstances, or on the awesome things happening to others? Do you realize that you need to “get back in your britches” today?
Read Romans 11:33-36 below, and let the loving arm of your Heavenly Daddy wrap around you as you agree with Him in these verses. As you pray these verses back to the Father, and mean it, you’ll find yourself slipping right back in your britches, not out of fear of being tended-to, but out of gratitude and joy, knowing that this is where YOU will be the happiest, the safest, and the most comfortable walking around in the Kingdom of God.
Oh, how great are God’s riches
and wisdom and knowledge!
How impossible it is for us to
understand His decisions
and His ways!For who can know the Lord’s thoughts?
Who knows enough to give Him advice?
And who has given Him so much
that He needs to pay it back?For everything comes from Him
and exists by His power
and is intended for His glory.All glory to Him forever!
A men.Romans 11:33-36 (NLT)
So, my friends… Maybe you can tuck this passage away for those occasional moments when you need to “get back in your britches.”
Me? I’ve put it smack dab in the middle of my quiet time scriptures so that I see it and pray it EVERY DAY! It reminds me to stay in those britches of mine on a daily basis, and to be grateful for what I have and where I am TODAY. It keeps me from falsely looking back in longing or looking ahead in worry. It keeps me fitting in my britches properly every day.
Edited to insert here: Apparently in looking back through this blog – I’ve already shared these verses earlier this summer: Right here! Obviously, I’m still learning from them!
Thanks, Mom and Dad for teaching us to get back in our britches… and thank You, Heavenly Father for helping us to stay there! 🙂
PS: Our earthly Daddy went to live with Jesus almost 19 years ago, but I can still see his smile and the light in his eyes every time I think of him. I don’t have many pictures of him on my computer, but wanted to share one. This is the man who both provided for our britches and who kept us in them. 🙂
