A Mommy Moment

When Ella goes down for her nap that is my time to read and study.  Micah is still up but plays contently on the floor while listening to PraiseBaby.  So we have our own little worship service.  Today I decided to see how he felt about his exersaucer.  When I put him in, he was facing me and immediately started smiling and pulling at the objects attached while cooing at them.  Within about 5 minutes I hear him crying.  And as you can see, it's not just crying but screaming.

I immediately check to see if a leg or arm is caught in something.  As soon as he sees me he stops crying.  I didn't do or fix anything.  I return to reading and the crying resumes.  I spin him back around to see me and he is all smiles again.  

If anyone has ever studied phsychology or child development or even had a kid of their own they know about object permanence. It is the understanding that objects continue to exist even when they cannot be seen, heard, or touched.  It is not developed in children until 8 to 12 months.  Obviously Micah, at 5 months old, has not mastered this.  So why am I boring you with a psychology lesson?

Very often God uses simple parenting examples as a lesson to teach me or remind me of Him.  This week has been very rough as Ryan has started a new job.  This job certainly is a ginormous blessing!!  However it has brought about changes and transitions for us.  Most of which I have not handled well.  This week also is a big week with our church as we begin reading for small groups as well as another class we're in.  So there have been lots of things to juggle.  Often during times like this I tend to revert to a 5 month old... not understanding object permanence.  During a "spiritual pruning" if I'm not immediately seeing or hearing God move I behave as if He doesn't exist or has walked out.  Resulting in infant behavior... crying fits.  Just as Micah's problem was because he didn't see me he thought I had left him.  This is not at all what happens with our Savior.  Scripture tells us that when we are one of His children, He will never walk out on us.  Yet how many times do I behave that way with God?  Where Micah went wrong was he was the one who moved.  I was still on the couch.  He didn't even know he was moving until he looked up and I was gone.  How often I do that with God.  I keep trucking, thinking I'm doing "His will" and before I know it I'm so far off base that I can't even find my way back.  I am so grateful for God's grace and the Holy Spirit that convicts and directs.  I am so thankful that God uses our children to continue to teach me how much I need Him!  And I'm immensely blessed that I have a husband that loves me as Christ loves the church as he patiently walks with me through the many painful prunings.