lessons from babysitting

Kids are weird.

Have you ever noticed that?

I am babysitting my niece and nephew tonight. Over the course of the evening I witnessed a few things that struck me.

Before we made it to my house we stopped at the store, one simply cannot have a movie night/slumber party without popcorn.

When we got to the store I opened the door and unbuckled my nephew. Without pause or thought, he LEPT into my arms.

He didn't asked if I would catch him or if I was paying attention. He assumed I was and would and he was right.

The next thing that struck me was just before bed. Long story short, Daniel was feeling slightly left out after I polished his sister's finger nails so I offered to put a temporary tattoo on him. He PANICKED that it would hurt and then in his just before bedtime state of exhaustion lost it. He wanted to have the tattoo so bad but he was afraid and didn't trust me. Then he kept playing the victim about how he didn't get to have anything special. Finally he let me put it on and as it turns out, of course, it was very simple, quick and painless.

The last think I noticed was this. When we all crawled into "aunt Linda's big bed" Daniel fell asleep quickly but Gracie fought and struggled to get to sleep. She was so tired but she simply could NOT seem to shut it down and go to sleep.

So what do these three random encounters with children have to do with anything?

Well, they got me thinking. Aren't we really just like children before the Lord?

If we would just leap into His arms, He would never fail to catch us.

And how often is the Lord trying to give us a good gift that seems out of reach, but is really right in front of us if we would just stop and allow him to give it too us.

Last, we run ourselves until we are ragged and weary and yet, we refuse to be still and come to a place of rest.

Although I want to have childlike faith, I also want to grow and mature daily.

I want my eyes to be wide open to the gifts the Lord sets before me and I want heart and hands that are ready to receive.

I want to rest in Him. I want turn off the world, quiet myself and find rest in Him.

So there you go, some life lessons from babysitting.

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