“As our buggy wound its way up through the bottoms, Grandpa started talking. ‘You know, Billy,’ he said, ‘about this tree-chopping of yours, I think it’s all right. In fact, I think it would be a good thing if all young boys had to cut down a big tree like that once in their life. It does something for them. It gives them determination and willpower. That’s a good thing for a man to have. It goes a long way in his life. The American people have a lot of it. They have proved that, all down through history, but they could do with a lot more of it.'” — Wilson Rawls, “Where the Red Fern Grows”

Since third grade, I have lived by a simple motto that has served me well against every adversity: God’s got this, but we still have to put in the work.

I picked up the lesson after reading “Where the Red Fern Grows” in Mrs. Burns’ class at Beadle Lake Elementary School.

In my favorite scene in the book, the protagonist, a young boy named Billy, works hard trying to chop down a massive tree.

He works at it with an ax for days, his hands blistered, his body aching.

Finally, thinking he can’t go on, he falls to his knees and tearfully prays to God for help.

Hearing nothing in reply, he rises again and picks up his ax.

Just then, a heavy wind blows, and the tree cracks and topples over.

Though he of course could have, God didn’t blow the tree over on his own. He waited until Billy went at with all he had. And even when he did answer, God didn’t answer Billy right away. He answered only after Billy stood again and prepared to go back to the exhausting toil, showing his willingness to continue.

And so it goes for each of us all the time.

Whenever somebody comes to me with a problem, lamenting God’s inaction, I ask them: “Have you chopped down your half of the tree?”

That’s a lesson I try to teach my son. Whenever he comes to me for help, I ask him whether he’s tried to use his own brain and/or brawn to work out the problem. Only after I know he’s put in sufficient effort do I work it out for him.

I love my son and want to help him, but I want him to be able to help himself when I’m not around and I want him to learn how to solve problems so he might help others in need down the line.

When I turned 16, my parents bought me a car, but they asked me to put some money into it. When it needed fixing, my stepfather worked on it, but I had to work under the hood with him so I could learn to do it myself the next time. I had to chip in to cover my car insurance, and (not that my parents never helped me) I had to put my own gas in the car.

When my brother started driving, my parents gave him a car, paid to have it fixed, and covered most of his gas.

My first car was cleaner, ran better, and lasted longer than my brother’s.

Because I was invested.

And so it is with God.

Though he’s always there and has all the power to do all things, God gave us heads and hearts and muscles, and he expects us to use them, so we’re invested in the blessings he bestows.

God’s no genie granting wishes. He cares for us deeply and is filled with endless grace, but he wants us to learn to use the powers he gave us so he can see his works in action.

He wants us to take care of our bodies, so we don’t get sick. He wants us to maintain our cars, so they don’t break down. He wants us to manage our money well, so we don’t go broke.

And he wants us to use the gifts he gave us to help others.

And he wants us to turn to others when we can’t do things ourselves.

He gave doctors brains to heal us when we’re sick. He gave mechanics skilled hands to fix our car when it breaks down. He gave financial advisors talent to grow our wealth.

God’s got this, as those yard signs say, but, often, the way he gets it is by giving us the ability to get it ourselves.

Or, at the very least, he wants us to chop down half of the tree before he blows a mighty wind to get us the rest of the way home.

Justin A. Hinkley can be reached at 989-354-3112 or jhinkley@thealpenanews.com. Follow him on Twitter @JustinHinkley.