My toddler. A true Mama’s girl. (note: that’s not my daughter pictured above by the way, but she’s just as cute! Thanks Pexel!) Like a child, she mimics my every move and would spend every second of her day (and night) with me if she could.
She knows her mother and nothing or no one else will do.
She has been waking up around the 4 or 5 AM hour lately. It’s been a disturbance of course. On one particular night, I was exhausted and asked my husband to put her and her older sister back down to bed in their room. She cried hysterically. Normally this fit of crying will fade off and she will allow herself to be comforted by her dad. Not this night. She wanted Mommy and only Mommy. Against my will, I got out the bed, and went to brush my teeth to give it some more time, but the crying didn’t stop. She shrieked in desperation. She wanted Mommy.
Finally, I came to her room door and talked to her calmly and firmly from across the room. Her persistence and intensity moved me to action. I told her that she needed to calm down and sit. She refused to sit but she did calm down. The eagerness in her posture and face melted my heart. I told her she needed to wait, and that I would be back to hold her.
When I walked back into my room, I sat on the edge of the bed in front of the heater. Partly frustrated with the impossibility of getting a full night’s rest these days, and torn about the reality that my baby may still be standing at the edge of her crib expecting my return in the middle of the night.
I don’t normally take waking in the middle of the night lightly as I have found in the past that the Holy Spirit has nudged me awake to pray, write, worship, and study in the midnight hours. So, not wanting to complain anymore, I started praying. After several minutes and continued silence from the children’s room, I remembered what I told my toddler, to wait. I figured by now she must have surely fallen asleep. As I got back up to sneak a peek and see if she gave up and went to sleep (as I’d hoped), my heart broke with compassion as I saw my little child still there standing at the edge of her crib, in the dark, waiting for mommy.
How could I resist that? I gathered my robe, a blanket, my Bible, and went to her. When I picked her up I could feel the comfort and relief and peace that she craved as her little body wrapped around me like a bear cub. I could feel her receiving all that she needed from her mommy. Like a child, she believed my words. Like a child, she held me to it.
The lessons I discerned in all this:
- She was faithful.
- She was wholehearted and eager (fervent).
- She was patient and disciplined no matter how long it took.
- She had faith that I would keep my word.
- She refused to be comforted by anything else but me.
- She was focused and committed to what she cried for.
- She was expectant.
All of this… ALL of it is what prompted me to act. How much more our God toward His children? When we are faithful, patient, persistent, and in refusal to have any substitutes, our God moves. In His time. He moves. With compassion, He moves. Hallelujah!
Gracious is the Lord, and righteous; Yes, our God is compassionate. Psalm 116:5 (NASB)
May we be like a child when we come to our Father in prayer…
May we be like a child, when we have needs. May we be like a child having unwavering faith and unending trust in our Dad. May we be like a child, allowing burdens to roll off, and not worrying about the next day or even the next hour. May we always be like a child, humble and lowly. May we be like a child patiently waiting with expectancy for the Lord to hear our cry and come.
Until next time,
Hannah
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Beautiful, and I LOVE the picture of what it means when God tells us to wait…which is more often than we’d like. Thanks for the reminder that we don’t have to pitch a fit when God doesn’t show up right away. We just need to trust that he hears us. He’s coming. 🙂
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Indeed Connie, He hears and is coming! Thank you for your feedback.
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