Who knew you could learn so much from babysitting two and three year olds? I
realized all the things this weekend. Bear with me as I try to remind you of
truth of who God is and what he has given us and how we should respond to his
incredible blessings of love and grace.
Lesson 1: Unconditional love
God’s unconditional love is
absolutely incredible. This weekend I babysat a three year old and two twin two
year olds. I love them to death, but the three year old was determined to test
my love for him as much as possible. Every day when I put him down for his nap
after each incredibly rough morning he would say “ I love you forever and for
always”, and I would say it back to him. Today, after he threw my phone across
the room because he didn’t want to take a time out after misbehaving
repeatedly, when he said “I love you forever and for always”, I had a really
hard time believing it. After him disobeying me repeatedly and ignoring my
warnings, how could he say that he loves me? If he loves me so much, then why
doesn’t he respect me? Later, the couple that takes over my babysitting shift
told me that the 3 year old really loves me, apparently he was praying for me
last night in his bedtime prayers and thanked God that I came and played with
him today and forgave him when he was rude. I guess the kid does love me, I
just wish he would act on that love.
I bet
that’s how God feels, there are so many times when I ignore his warnings and
don’t listen to what he is saying. I wonder if he ever doubts my love. Do I show
God my love for him everyday in the way I live my life? Or am I just kind of
taking advantage of the fact that he will love me no matter what I do and hopes
he knows that I love him back? How can I practically respect and show God how
much I love him? He has done so much for me and put up with all my disobedience
and complaining and ignorance. How can I thank him? Am I showing my love for
God by how I live my life?
Lesson 2: We need our Daddy
It’s so
weird how different a child is when their dad leaves them, even if it is just a
few hours. The child transforms into a completely different person without
their mom and dad’s comfort, presence, and direction. Even though the child is
not left alone it is always harder for him to listen, harder for him to be
comforted, and doesn’t know what to do with himself and he completely falls
apart when his parents aren’t around.
It’s
the same with God, without God we would completely fall apart. We should be and
can take advantage of the fact that he is our daddy. Only he is the perfect
daddy that will never leave us, and will always love us no matter how badly and
how much we misbehave.
Lesson 3: Total Reliance
So
about a year ago I babysat the twins when they were only one year olds. It is
so different babysitting them now compared to them a year ago. They went from
being totally reliant on their caretaker for every need to attempting to do
things themselves, and trying and failing and making a mess. Then they run back
to their caretaker for comfort and help. It is an endless cycle of trying and
failing and looking for comfort and help. Such is my life. I went from complete
reliance on God this summer, which was fantastic, to trying to be independent.
I went from relying on God for everything to this endless cycle of trying and
failing and making a mess, then running to God for comfort and help. Let’s just
say when it comes to life and God, life is so much better and less painful and
messy when I rely on God for everything instead of trying to do things by
myself and making a mess and breaking things and then having to go back to God
for him to clean it all up. Dude, I just want to go back to the total reliance
on God thing, because this whole independent thing isn’t working so well and it’s
not how God wanted this to be. I am glad my twinsies are growing up, but there
are some parts of our faith that we shouldn’t try to grow out of, and one of
those things is total reliance.
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