Being Involved in God's Plan

I have vivid memories of my grandfather in the garden with his straw hat. I lived with my mom, grandmother, and him in my mother's childhood home from the age of 3 and he tended a plethora of vegetables and a few fruit trees. He died from heart disease when I was in second grade but I think he worked that garden for almost the entire time. I have written previously about him breaking off the handle of a brand new garden hoe for me to use. Compiling this memory with my own daily growth as a mother has shed some light on "working" alongside my Heavenly Father. Over the past 6 years I have had the very privileges of "doing" this and that, here and there with God but also with my boys "helping" me-sometimes making a little more work for me in the end. God has taught me so much, transformed me in so many ways as have the boys and their friends. As I left a store today and my four year old told the clerk to 'have a nice day' because he has experienced me say it, the thought struck me that this must be somewhat similar to how God feels when we imitate Him successfully. Much of "working" for the Kingdom of God can be either like it was for me tending the garden with my grandfather--making more work for Him to come back and repair later, unfortunately possibly destroying something He had painstakingly designed- or like my son's imitation of me today-- doing a good job and surprising Him out of the blue! I can't speak for Him on whether He prefers one more than the other because I know that when the boys are "helping" it still blesses me even though it wears me out. I hope that is how it is for Him and am so glad He doesn't tire as I do...

He may be using this in my processing the function of the church institution (not the Body) as well and maybe in helping me forgive.