Wanting What's Good for Us

When Meg Herriot's son asked for something that wasn't good for him, she found herself telling him what God had told her.

Finding yourself repeating to your children things your parents used to tell you can be rather cliché.

A while back though, I found myself saying something I think our Heavenly Father may have been telling me. I heard it through my own mouth telling my son.

"My job isn't to make you happy. It's to make you good." Now obviously, God wants our happiness and parents want their children to be happy. But the primary objective is that happiness is the fruit of goodness.

My son was advocating for video games as a way to happiness. Unfortunately, our family (and I will go ahead and indict all of our family) fell into some bad habits during the pandemic. Whether it's social media, video games, or just scrolling the phone (thankfully my son doesn't have his own phone yet), we were losing our way.

I explained to my son it was for everyone's good that we got re-centered on what mattered, and our time is valuable.

Click to tweet:
Just because God says "No," it's not that He doesn't want me to be happy. #catholicmom

I'm not sure how much my son actually processed, but I processed my words. I ask God for things that make me happy—that's a pretty natural thing for a child to do. I need to understand though that just because He says "No," it's not that He doesn't want me to be happy. It's because he wants me to be good. I am meant to be Holy, as we all are.

Sometimes wonderful blessings are not given to us. Sometimes suffering is a part of our journey. It is not because the Lord wants us to be unhappy. He has greatness in store for us. We need to rely on his paternal wisdom and the faith that someday, happiness—eternal happiness—is the fruit of our goodness.

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