“Can I drink this pool water?”
“I’ll just put this in my milk.”
“Look! I am climbing!”
Parenting two little kids is a very different type of leadership than I’ve practiced in other seasons of life. Two people literally follow me around (or I wear them around) all day. They need me to direct their activities, teach them the words for what we’re doing, decide what and when they’ll eat, remind them when to go to the bathroom… It’s constant. Even my own trips to the bathroom are not solo time; everyone tags along and makes comments. (“I want to see mommy’s poopie!”)
When I do make the mistake of leaving them alone for a second, I often come back to find the toddler hovering wide-eyed over some kind of spill and saying hopefully, “It’s okay… we’ll clean it up soon!”
I’m doing my best to train them well, but there are so many things to teach! Sometimes we get our wires crossed. Like when I asked, “What does N-O spell?” and the toddler blurted out “Jesus!”
The other day I was riding my bike to the neighborhood pool with the little ones packed in together in a bike trailer behind me. Somehow they were squabbling over a toy, even though one of them isn’t anywhere close to being able to talk. In a strange way, it made me proud and I made a mental note: not even six months into having two and they’re both aware enough to bicker.
I had a flash of realization that this might really be the best year of my life. Parents of bigger kids keep reminding me it will all go by much too quickly, and I can already see that happening.
I genuinely enjoy watching our girls grow and learn. It’s exciting when the little one rolls over or the big one says something witty. I’m not in a huge hurry for them to earn degrees or even stand on their own feet without wobbling.
I wonder if God feels the same way. I think before I became a parent, my perception of God was that he wanted us all to grow to maturity, emphasis on the word maturity– that was the goal and anything less than that was, well, immature. Not pleasing.
But now I’m wondering if he wants us to grow to maturity, emphasis on the word grow– I bet he enjoys the process of our growth as much as he enjoys the idea of us all hanging out in heaven, perfectly sanctified.
So Christ himself gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the pastors and teachers, to equip his people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ.
Eph 4:11-13
God could have designed people to hatch fully formed, or to spawn or something. But instead he made us develop into independence more slowly than any other animal. He designed us to disciple and train one another. Why? I don’t think he wastes that process. Somehow it glorifies him when we practice, fall and then stand, learn and grow.
So if you’ll excuse me, that’s all the “N-O” time I’ve got for today. Time to plug back in and keep growing.