if God prefers humility

A couple of weeks ago, I went to visit a friend so that she could give me a course in cloth diapering. I took the kiddos and they played with her 4 year old son while we talked diapers and mommyhood in general. It was a fun time.

Getting ready to go however was not a fun time. Speed Racer really loves other boys’ “boy toys.” I would say that he is quite envious of them and wants to keep them as his own every time he comes in contact with such fascinating boy toys. He is all boy, and he readily lives up to his middle name, which means, “warrior.” He really did not want to say good bye to the new toy friends he had in his hand. I have not seen this type of temper tantrum from him in a very long time.

It just so happens that we were leaving at lunch time, and I did not bring any food, so being hungry probably did not help matters any. We stopped asap at Chick-Fil-A, and the kids were fairly good, but I was slightly frazzled, and although I was trying to remain calm, I just wanted to hurry and go home, which added to my frazzlement. To top it off, one of the CFA ladies mentioned ice cream, which I did not want to get at the moment, so that set off another fit from Speed Racer.

Needless to say, I was overly frazzled when I got on the interstate to head home. So much so that I thought to set the cruise control so that I would not speed. The problem is that I set it and forgot it and got lost in my frazzled thoughts, so when the speed did change, I WAS speeding, and an officer pulled me over. Very few words were exchanged. I handed him my license, and he came back with a ticket.

Internally, I was thinking if only you knew what I had been through, perhaps you would have mercy on me. But it got me to thinking, questioning, so I thought I would pose my question to you. Ultimately, a patrolman gave me a ticket, but anything could have happened to prevent that, to prevent him from choosing me, etc, but that’s not what happened. This was God’s plan for me for that day. I really wanted God’s mercy.

As a child I was taught not to argue – to humbly accept the punishment you are to receive. However, I wonder if God prefers humility or an attempt at begging for mercy. In retrospect, I wanted to ask the officer for mercy, but I did not. What do you think? Does God prefer humility or does He prefer us to bring our requests (even for mercy) to Him, like the persistent widow? or some combination of both? What do you think and why?