- This morning, after Chloe had used the bathroom, she washed her hands. I put the soap where she could reach it, allowing her to “do it all by myself”. After she had gotten a nice lather worked up, she extended her hands towards the mirror to wash them too. I stated, “Please don’t do that.” “Why?” she asked. I started to explain my reasons for not wanting a soap streaked mirror, but instead replied, “Because Mommy said.” “Oh” she said, and began to rinse her hands happily without a second thought as to why she couldn’t wash the mirror. Wow. Just stay with me, ok. I left the room, and went into the kitchen. Minutes later I heard Chloe coming through the house calling out, “Mommy, where are you?” “I’m in here.” I replied. She retorted, “Mommy I couldn’t see you. I didn’t know where you were.” I told her, “Mommy is always here, even if you can’t see me.” “I just did it myself.” she replied. I responded, “You can always call out for me and I’ll come help you.” Can you see where this is going? God is good isn’t He?
- A little bit later, Chloe was ready to go outside. I let her pick out her own outfit. It makes her feel big, and I could see no harm, even if it didn’t match as well as it would have if I had picked it out. It was time for the baby to nap, and I was hesitant to let her go outside when I couldn’t eyeball her the entire time. She was persistent to the point of tears, and I knew Bailey would fall asleep quickly. I gave instructions to be careful, stay in the backyard, and yell really loud if she needed anything. I kept the back door open so I could hear her, and went to rock the baby. I allowed her to play outside of my watchful eye per her insistence, but she remained in my yard and earshot. Well, inevitably, she fell while running with the dog. I heard her cry immediately and ran to her. I cleaned her scrapes, kissed the pain away, and topped it off with a bandaid. When given the choice, she decided to wait to go out and play again until I could be there with her. I put two choices before her, and she chose the one that offered security.
- What if we could have faith like a child? When I told Chloe not to put soapy water on the mirror because I said so, she accepted that without question. What if we could see our relationship with God like that of a parent? He is, after all, our Heavenly Father. We can call out to Him in times of need and He will come. We may not see Him, but He is there. Again this would be the perfect time to embrace a child-like faith. Chloe now understands that if she calls out Momma, I will come. I’m human and won’t always be present if she calls, but we can be certain that our Heavenly Father never leaves our side. I would encourage you to read Hebrews chapter 11. It speaks of faith. Imagine the faith Abraham had when it came time to sacrifice Isaac. Imagine the faith Noah had when instructed to build the Ark. Think of Moses. It goes on and on. Yet, He gives us free will. He gives us the choice to have faith and pursue life, or to try and make our own way. Sometimes we fuss like a temper tantrum throwing child. We think we now the best way to accomplish our goals. We don’t like His timing and let our faith fall away. We take off running across the dirt, and inevitably fall. The wonderful thing is that He keeps us in His yard, and is always there to pick us up and clean off our scrapes. So I guess the question is, have you tried to leave the yard and don’t think He can hear your cry? It’s ok. He left the door open.
That is all 🙂