Balloons, Prayers and Lessons Learned

Merilee gave me a beautiful flower arrangement with 3 helium balloons attached to it for my birthday. Her kids begged me for the balloons every day, but I wanted to enjoy them a bit longer. Finally one of the balloons lost its oomph and I decided a better let them play with the other two before it was too late. They ran around the house with them for a bit then wanted to take them outside. I warned them about the dangers of helium balloons and the great outdoors, but they assured me they would be careful. It wasn’t long, however before the returned to the house with Brandon empty handed and in tears. I asked them what had happened.
Lexi replied “Brandon lost his balloon, but it’s ok.” “ Come on Brandon” she said tugging on his little hand, “Let’s go say a prayer.”
I followed behind them not quite knowing what to say. I peeked in the bedroom and watched as they knelt down together. I listened as Brandon said “Heavenly Father, I lost my balloon. Can you help me get it back please?” Next it was Lexi’s turn. “Heavenly Father, Brandon lost his balloon and he is so sad. Maybe you could make the wind bring it back.”

Being “wise to the ways of the world”, I knew that balloon was not coming back. I gulped not sure what to do, I whispered my own little prayer. I went in the bedroom and wiped Brandon’s tears, sat on the floor and pulled them both into my lap. “Sometimes we make choices that Heavenly Father really can’t fix if he wants us to learn. When you went outside you knew what could happen to the balloon, but you made the choice to go outside anyway. Heavenly Father always answers our prayers, but not always how we want him too. He is probably not going to bring your balloon back, but he will make it ok. He will make you strong enough and help you not be sad. “
Brandon twisted around to look at me and said, “Do you mean that Heavenly Father isn’t going to give me back the balloon but He will make me happy?”
At this point Lexi pitched in seeming to understand what I was trying to tell them. “ I can share my balloon with you and some day maybe you will get a new balloon.”
That’s right, Lexi,” I said, “Right now Heavenly Father is answering Brandon’s prayer because you are helping him to be happy by sharing your balloon with him. Remember, Heavenly Father always answers our prayers and helps us with our troubles. He doesn’t always fix everything back like it was, but He helps us be strong and lots of times He sends other people to help us, just like you are helping Brandon right now.”
Lexi jumped up and tugged on Brandon’s arm again, “Come on, let’s go see how far the balloon went up in the sky.” They rushed out, happy once more.
I sat there on the floor for a bit and thought about what I had tried to teach them. I am sure they didn’t really understand it all; but maybe the lesson was more for me than for them. There are lots of hard things in life; things that are not going to change, problems that aren’t going away, lots of reasons to feel sorry for myself. But through experience I know that my prayers are answered. Oh, I still have plenty of problems and a heavy load to carry, but I know that I will be strong enough to carry on and that I can be happy while I am doing it.