Transitions

By Mama Mabel


After many nights of Ladybug spending a few precious hours in her own bed then the remainder of the night tossing and turning between us, Coondog and I have decided that she needs to learn to sleep by herself.  She's more than old enough. 

In a stroke of brilliance, I thought I would explain this to her in advance so she wouldn't be surprised and might go along with it.  Sometimes this is actually an effective method with her.  Last night, not so much.

A few times throughout the evening, I explained that if she wakes up and it's dark outside, she has to go back to sleep in her own bed but if the sun is out, only then she is allowed to come to our room.  Ideally, I would have told her to stay in bed until 9am but, sadly, that will have to wait until she can tell time.  I quizzed her on where to sleep if it was dark and where to go if the sun was out until she consistently got the right answer.  Finally, I put her to bed.  She's actually pretty good about starting the night in her own room now so I had some hope that she'd make it through the night.

Those hopes were dashed around 4:45, when she started sobbing a mixture of "Nooooooooo" and "Maaaammmmaaaaa" until Coondog, who had kindly gone in to console her while I slept, gave up and I drug myself out of bed to soothe her.  She plaintively wailed "Noooo" at me until I started asking her ridiculous questions that were rightfully answered "No."  Are horses purple?  No.  Are giraffes purple?  No.  Are some flowers purple?  Yes!  The tide had turned.  By that point, she had calmed down enough to lay down as long as I put my head on the bed beside her.  She was out in a minute flat and slept until after I left for work.

At times like these when normal parent/kid interaction leave me tired and frustrated, I wonder if God feels the same way about us.  He tells us very clearly how we should act but we're still surprised when He actually expects us to act that way.  Why doesn't He just let us crawl into His bed and shut out the world while we snuggle with Him?  Doesn't He love us?  On the other hand, how is it that Jesus sent a Comforter to be with us when we're in distress but we still wail about being left alone?  Clearly we haven't been abandoned.

I think God gave me Ladybug so I could better appreciate what I put Him through and hopefully learn from it.  I don't want to leave Him annoyed with my lack of faith when just a little more trust from me would make everything smoother for both of us.  Obviously, He's not going to lead me to harm, just as I would never do that to my daughter.  So why do I still doubt what He wants me to do?  Then again, why does Ladybug think the world will end if she spends an entire night in her own bed even when I assure her that everything will be fine?  I like to think that I'm in the process of maturing instead of just getting older but I have a shocking amount in common with my toddler.  Thankfully, we can learn together about the beauty of faith and obedience.