WPTM #26: Nothing New

What Parenting Teaches Me #26:  Nothing New

I always, always agree with the Ecclesiatical assertion that there is nothing new under the sun.  So many times, so many ways, in so many places a week, I see God's word come true.  Here are a couple of those ways I have seen this with my kiddos recently. 

1.  Not long ago, Noah had an accident in his pants.  A poopy stinky accident.  Except this time, instead of telling me about it, he locked the bathroom door, moved the stepstool, opened the cabinet under the sink, and stashed his nastified underpants under there.  He continued on to the potty where he tried to wipe himself, all by himself, which never goes well.  By the time I came to the bathroom to check on him (it was taking awhile, you know), I smelled the poopy funk, but the evidence was nowhere to be found.  Until it was found.  And in my shock (at his deceit) I inquired why in the world he would hide this from me.  And in his shock he stared back a little bewildered himself and tried to start explaining what happened ... and he fell into a quivering, crying mess in the process.  His upset was so sincere, I had to hold back my tears, too.  He was so sure he would get in trouble for his accident - which he would not have.  I explained to him that his troubles really only started when he chose dishonesty.  I got down and held him and corrected him and explained how this situation could go better for him next time.  It was quite a teachable moment and he was relieved and convinced that it was not worth the trouble to try to hide things like this from his mommy again.

After all was said and done, I thought about how this was just like Adam and Eve and their original sin and how they tried in futility to hide their shame from God.  There's just nothing new under the sun, is there?

2. On Sunday, when I picked Anna up from the toddler nursery there was a lot of activity going on in the room. Many children. Lots of noise. Plenty of things happening.  Anna was engaged in her toys and her playmates.  But when I called her name, her head yanked up immediately, she dropped what she was doing, and she began searching the room for me.  Just like that.  She could not see me, but my one voice in a roomful of voices stood out to her in an instant and she sought me out without a thought for anything else she had going on before that moment.  And of course, when she spotted me, she bolted right for me with her hands in the air for me to pick her up and take her away. (Insert mommy sigh here)

As we rode home, I thought about how that is just like when Jesus said, "My sheep hear (know) my voice ... and they follow me."  Her alertness to my voice is a perfect picture of what a believer's should be to God's.  This moment of mine from Anna caused me to ask the Lord again to tune my heart to perceive his voice and fix my will to respond with the same quickness of spirit.   When you know someone well, you recognize them quickly and respond accordingly.  The grinning point was, for me again, that there is nothing new under the sun.