So…ever had one of those times where you find yourself learning from the little people that you are supposed to be teaching. I had one of those learning experiences today. I have to say, it’s very humbling.
After dealing with a very out of sorts, sick toddler all day yesterday and a night of broken sleep last night, I didn’t exactly start the day on the best of notes. Despite being sick, however, my wonderful 2.5 year old seemed to have bounced out of bed with his boundless energy back at full strength and an extra dose of mischief added just for fun. It was shaping up to be an “interesting” day, but just after lunch, things were still relatively under control, so I headed to the nursery to try and put the baby down for his nap. As I am rocking him, I hear J heading into the bathroom.
Me: “What are you doing J?”
J:”Just getting my cloth. Need to wipe my nose.”
Me:”Ok.”
I go back to rocking the baby and surfing Facebook. The faucet turns on in the bathroom. J is probably just washing his face, which he is obsessed with when he has a cold since he can’t stand having a runny nose. Go back to Facebook. A few minutes later, I realize the water is still running, but before I can say anything, it turns off and I hear the sound of little feet pounding as fast as they can towards the living room. That can only mean one thing. My son is carrying a dripping wet washcloth through the house to go “wash” something for me. As fast as I can, I lay my half asleep, but rapidly rousing baby down and order J to return the cloth immediately. Then I look in the bathroom. Annnnnd that’s when I have a MOMENT. (Those of you that have seen the movie Moms Night Out will totally understand this. Those of you who haven’t, use your imagination.) In a few short minutes, my toddler had managed to drownthe vanity, the bathroom floor, a hand towel and himself.
As I ranted and strongly admonished him (ok, I yelled) about how unacceptable it was to flood the bathroom, he stood there calmly and interrupted only once to say, “Oooooh, ok!” To make matters worse, as I went to stand up from mopping up the mess, I managed to crack my elbow on the edge of the vanity hard enough to sustain a bone bruise. After shedding a few tears the pain subsided and I turned back to give my toddler his final warning not to do this ever again. At this point he looked at me with what I can only describe as pity and came over to pat my leg, saying “It’s okay mommy. It will all be ok.”
And that’s when I asked myself why my toddler was the one keeping his cool about the whole situation when I’m the adult. I know he’s operating on a few hours more sleep than I am, but seriously?! It was a bit of an earth stopping moment for me. I got down on my knees and apologized for yelling at him. His response totally humbled me. He wrapped his arms around my neck and said, “It’s ok, mommy, I forgive you and I love you very much! Don’t worry. Jesus will stay with you.”
Yes. I did get a little teary eyed. At what point had I stopped to pray during the course of my challenging day? Exactly. I didn’t. Yet God used my little boy to get my attention. Not only did he remind me that God is always present, even in the midst of chaos, and wants us to rely on Him, but also that He graciously forgives us and loves us despite our failings. He meets us where we are and speaks in a language that we can understand. For today, that happened to be the voice of a 2 year old.
It was a much needed reminder, aaaaannd one that I would need as the day progressed. I’d love to say that J remained angelic and perfectly behaved for the rest of the day, but such was not the case. I did remember to pray though, and it did help as I was scrubbing puke out of the carpet later in the afternoon.
Hey, what can I say? Life is messy. That’s why bleach was invented.
Of Shattered Things 