Lessons from a Baby #2: Human Nature

     My granddaughter is all of one year old and she’s already teaching me more than I’m imparting to her.  Just before her recent birthday, her mama was planning to make cupcakes for her party, so I volunteered to take her to my house for the afternoon. I know just how difficult it is to get anything accomplished with an exploring baby underfoot.

      I’ve done a lot of baby-proofing in my house over the last few months since she has mastered crawling, but there are still areas that she tries to access that I don’t necessarily want to her to explore.  One of those areas is behind the recliner in the living room where there is a small trash basket.

     So, on this afternoon, she was happily playing on the floor while I was watching from that very recliner.  Eventually, she crawled toward the chair and began to go around the back of it toward a small space between the recliner and the wall with the aim of checking out that trash basket. Like a responsible grandmother, I’m trying my best to teach her, so I put my arm down between her and the basket and firmly said, “No!”.  Immediately, she put her head down toward the floor and began to cry piteously – like I had just broken her tiny heart.

      Despite the dozen or so toys in my house that were chosen especially for her and the other things in the room that were permissible for her to touch and explore, she only wanted the one thing that I forbid her to touch. That trash basket held items that were of no worth, items that could potentially cause her harm, but that was the target she chose.

     I began to think about that in relation to how we interact with our Father God.  He has given us so many things that were designed for our good and for our pleasure, but in our human sin nature, we reach for the things that have no value and that will hurt us eventually.  I’m not just talking about the so-called “big” sins that most Christians avoid, but even the little things that we put in place of our relationship with God – the useless things that keep us from becoming all that we should. I’m as guilty of this as anyone else I know, so I am definitely not throwing stones.   

     I have a feeling that I’m going to learn many more lessons through the life of our little one.  I hope that you’ll remember this little illustration the next time that you are enticed by something other than God’s best for you and that you’ll respond to that “check” in your spirit that the Holy Spirit brings when He puts His hand of restraint between you and the things that distract you.