What Parenting Teaches Me #1: Tenderness
One morning not long ago, Josh and I were laying in bed, chatting over the morning, with Noah nearby in the room. In a minute or two we realized Noah had disappeared into our bathroom and shut the door behind him. This is, of course, a recipe for trouble so I called for him.
Me: Noah, come back out here where we can see you.
Noah, opened our door just slightly, peeked out, and with lighthearted self-importance said: No
In the split seconds it took me to think about how to respond, Noah followed up with: Buh-bye
And he shut the door again.
Josh and I looked at each other and fell apart laughing at how caught off guard we were, how bold but cute Noah was, answering us NO with such confidence, like it was a question or something, like he had delivered an indisputable verdict on the situation, like we are not really in charge or some other toddler nonsense. We laughed so hard we literally were crying. You might just had to have been there. :)
But this taught me about myself as a child of God - and perhaps the tenderness that God looks at us with. Because we love Noah and know that our authority is really not in question in the end, we can - at times - just giggle at how adorable he is. And maybe it is the same with the Lord. Because, seriously, God knows he is in charge whether we know it or not. Imagine how the Lord must roll back and laugh at us as we flex our toddler muscles, assert our independence of Him, believe we can control things, and not yield to his will for our lives in any given circumstance. It caused me to consider again that the Lord is not so entirely stern with us. We are his children, his beloved. It is refreshing to me to remember he has a sense of humor about us, tender love toward us, is slow to anger with us, and is still the guardian and authority over us. Yes, there will be discipline for us at times. Noah gets a steady dose of discipline for his defiance, to be sure, but if you look closely, you can see Josh and I working very hard not to crack a smile and bust out laughing at his antics - at least not while he is looking. I think maybe it can be the same with us and the Lord. In a nutshell - maybe we just look like clueless, yet comical toddlers, from God's perspective. Yeah, that's probably it.
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5 comments:
Wow, what insight! I like it! Lee could use that in his next Sunday school lesson. He taught today and I must say, I'm impressed with his growing knowledge and insight into God and the Word as well. I'll get there one day too. Good little connection...wish you could hear Lee teach!
Thanks for the lesson! You should write devotions :) Glad you joined the blog world, and I love the name Anna!
Very good thoughts...yeah, parenting teaches us so many things that we can't learn any other way, especially how to be giving and self-less. Some us of have a little harder time of learning that, I have to admit! But the parent-child relationship should certainly be patterned after God's relationship with us...loving, giving, forgiving, patient, and tender, etc, just like you said. Good job!
I think God laughs at me a lot...just yesterday, I learned that you have to boil water to make tea. Needless to say, I went to the store and bought the gallon jugs for the picnic. Missed you...where were you? The water slide was a HUGE hit with the kids.
Oh Alison - Let me introduce you to Lipton Cold Brew Iced Tea! Brews cold in 2-3 minutes. Gives sliced bread a run for its money.
Yesterday was an unpretty day of teething 4 at a time crossed with an overdue nap and a general loathing of the idea of melting in 90 degree heat. Yep - call us party poopers ... and nursery duty wore my butt out! :) But Chuck E Cheese - Count us in!
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