Growing Gains and Growing Pains

It's amazing how much Meg seems to be learning right now. For months we've been working with her on certain "no touch" items, and for months it seemed to make no difference. Now suddenly, this week and last week--a breakthrough of sorts. She has almost stopped going for the desk drawer (which contains the computer keyboard and--her very favorite--the mouse). This was her greatest temptation for so long, and now she's begun to exercise some self-control! It's exciting!

She throws her food on the floor a little less. She responds much more quickly to, "Meg, please look at Mommy," and "Meg, that's no touch. Come away from there, please." She also understands me when I tell her she needs a diaper change, and she will come over and lay down on the changing mat all by herself! (It's so cute--she hasn't quite figured out how to orient herself on it, so she usually lays down across the mat horizontally or diagonally or upside-down. But she's trying hard!) When it's mealtime, she follows me to her high chair and waits to be put into it. These are all evidences of grace in our little girl's life, and I give God thanks for being at work in our family!

She is also doing some things that are just plain fun. She can put the pieces of her "cookie puzzle" (sent by Grandma Dawn and Grandpa Tom for her birthday) in their proper places. When it's time to read a book, she knows to plop herself down in my lap, though she's sometimes not in quite the right position when she plops. She understands me when I say, "Meg, let's go to Mommy's room now," or, "It's time to go downstairs," and she will drop what she's doing and go stand at the door, waiting for me to open it.

So many good things are happening! Finally!

I've been surprised by how easy it is to fall into unbelief even in these very early stages of child-training and discipline. "This isn't working." "She just isn't getting it." "Is this the right way to teach her?" Thoughts like these creep into my mind and I have to stop and remind myself, "No, Cara, God's Word promises that loving, faithful instruction will eventually have its effect." The problem is just that I'm impatient! And lazy! (The lazy-part doesn't surprise me too much, given my laziness in other areas.)

I see my laziness most clearly when Meg disobeys a direct instruction I have given her. For example, let's say I tell her to "Come here, please." This is one of those things we're not sure she understands yet, so we're trying to help her learn. If I call her and she doesn't come, I have resolved to get up immediately and go and show her what obedience looks like--in this case, I lead her toward the spot where I was and say, "See? This is what it means when Mommy says, 'Come here'." But so often, my first impulse is to want to stay where I am, keep doing what I am doing, ignore the situation just this once! Then I have to remember something else that God's Word promises: as I sow, so shall I reap. Every day I have the chance to sow faithfully into Meg's life, knowing that we will both reap good fruit some day. Or I can sow sporadically, half-heartedly, giving into my laziness--with the expectation of reaping fruit in keeping with that seed. No thanks.

I am so grateful that God, in his goodness, has designed the process of bringing up children to be beneficial for the souls of parents as well as little ones! It is well worth it to overcome my own sinful tendencies in order to work with Meg on overcoming hers. May God grant both of us more grace, that more good fruit may abound in our lives, to His glory!