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In my vast experience of parenting
(about three-and-a-half years), I've learned several valuable
lessons: a good game of peek-a-boo goes a long way, Nordstrom has a
giant bathroom tucked away on the 3rd floor, perfect for tantruming
toddlers and crying babies, and I will be vague, but a third lesson
of great value has to do the appropriate way of changing a newborn
baby boy's diaper. Honestly, there really is no reason why bodily
fluids should be on the walls of a nursery.
But beyond strategies for survival, one
of the most important lessons I have learned so far is the value of a
willing heart. Something my three-and-a-half year old has been
teaching me lately.
She is a high-spirited, passionate
little girl. With her passion pointed in the right direction, I see
her stand up for what is right, give away her last bite of dessert
and share a new toy without having played with it first. And
conversely, which sometimes happens on a more frequent basis, we
experience meltdown after meltdown after meltdown.
Most recently we had a break through.
From a request to finish her green beans at lunchtime, she was sent
into a meltdown of sheer agony and turmoil. I firmly, but gently told
her she needed to calm down and what she said next changed my heart,
just as surely as it was changing hers.
In the midst of gasping for breath
between tears and with a hot, red face, she exclaimed, “Mom, I
can't calm down!” It's strange, but I could see in her eyes that
she wanted to, but physically, she just couldn't do it. Then she
frantically requested, “Mom, please help me!”
I didn't know what to do. For some
reason, in that moment, all I could think about was Jesus. So we
prayed. I've prayed with her before meals and at bedtime, but we've
never prayed together during a moment of desperation. I held onto her
tightly and prayed out loud for Jesus to calm her heart, to make her
feel better and to protect her.
And then she calmed down. I held her
for a bit longer until her final tears were gone. And in those
moments, all I could think about was my relationship with Jesus. I am
His daughter and He is my parent. He doesn't need me to be perfect;
He just needs me to have a willing heart. When I make mistakes or
when I don't know what to do with my frustration or anger, He just
wants me to call out to Him. He wants to hear me say, “I can't calm
down! Please help me!”
King David writes in Psalm 119:147, “I
rise before dawn and cry for help; I have put my hope in your word.”
And in Isaiah, God promises, “Then you will call, and the Lord will
answer; you will cry for help, and He will say: Here am I.”
It is not our actions in which God
responds. He is simply looking for a willing heart.
- Rebekah H.
