According to the good pleasure of His Will

How many of you, when you were little, got the feeling your parents just did whatever they wanted? You'd ask to do something or have something and they got to decide whatever they wanted and you were left to live with it! I know I thought that sometimes. Of course now, as a parent myself, it doesn't look that way at all! We have reasons for our decisions and usually we try to make them based on the good of our child-whether it looks like it to them or not! We've been memorizing Eph 1 and there's a phrase several times now that's got me thinking about this. It says, "According to the good pleasure of His will..." and "According to His good pleasure..." I don't even know if those phrases go with my thoughts or not, but don't we sometimes feel about God like little children do about their parents-"He can just do whatever He jolly well wants!"? And it's true, God can! But if we, being evil, make decisions for our children's good, how much more does our Heavenly Father for us? That thought comforts me tonight!