This weekend I learned why 60-year-old women do not have babies. I already knew that raising children is a challenge even for young people, but a weekend of managing a strong-willed two-year-old showed me the wisdom of God's plan in trusting tiny people with younger parents!
Sometimes my son and his wife say of their little one, "She doesn't listen". I decided this weekend that her problem wasn't a listening problem - it was an obeying problem. Of course, just about everything this kid does points me to a larger lesson and I realized that sometimes my own problem is not in the listening, but in the obeying.
How many things am I neglecting to do when God has already told me in His word what He expects? How many times have I felt that nudge of the Holy Spirit to say or do something and used some lame excuse to avoid being obedient to that calling?
When Bella doesn't do what she is told, it is because she really wants to continue to do what she wants. Just like all of us, her flesh says that playing with something dangerous is fun or that it's more important to explore the possibilities of what is in that mystery cabinet than it is to truly listen to what I am asking her to do or warning her to avoid. She's human and she is two. I will love her regardless, but I will expect her to grow in obedience as she gets older.
In the same way, God will also continue to love us, but He expects us to grow in obedience and understanding as we follow Him. That selfish, self-centered spirit that is in all of us must come under His control and guidance as we pursue Him.
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