Wednesday, April 4, 2012

Grace for a Toddler


Some moments in life give you a glimpse of grace.  Toddlers by definition do not emit grace, yet God, because of his love, sometimes chooses to pour grace into their little lives.  Our dare devil toddler came to us angry and impulsive showing little grace.  In the last year and a half, life brought its ups and downs.  Three year olds can be amazingly cute one moment and then extremely frustrating the next. 
My husband has put our dare devil to bed night after night.  They sing, and they pray.  Up until this week, Daddy was the only one to pray.  Dare Devil had no interest in talking personally to God.  Something changed this week.  He decided that it was time for God to hear what he had to say.  As Angel walked down the hallway a little while later, she heard his little voice praying on his own.  How cool is that?  God was becoming a little bit more real to our little guy. 
We emphasize immediate obedience with a right heart attitude.  This has always been hard for this dare devil of a toddler.  He likes to do his own thing.  He has his own agenda.  Obedience has been a tough road for all of us.  Today, we were getting ready for the day.  Of course that includes getting dressed and putting shoes on.  You would think that would be a no brainer.  Often it is not in our home.  As I called our little guy over to get dressed, he came right away with a smile on his face.  I, of course, praised him left and right.  He looked at me and said, “That makes Jesus smile.”  You got it, buddy.  It surely did.  We always talk about how God loves us no matter what, but when we obey, we make him smile. 
Our dare devil is learning to understand a little more about who God is and how much God loves him.  Grace is becoming real for him.  We do not know how long our dare devil will be with us, but this we know.  We had the privilege of introducing a loving, real God, and He is changing our little guy’s heart. 

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