Testing, Testing, 1...2...3...

So a few minutes ago I left my son's room, having rocked him to one of his lullaby songs. I'm glad he called one of us back in there, because the going-to-bed routine tonight was particularly heinous. Now I'm the first to tell you that my adorable child is not perfect, but throw in the fact that he has given up afternoon naps (this happened several months ago) and is now three (a much more difficult age, in my opinion, than two was), and you get a "tired tooter," as we say, around 7:00 each evening.

He had been great for my husband all day today, I'm told, after they left me at the church to continue working through the evening. But just before his bath, he decided to lose it. He screamed through my washing him. He kicked me in the gut while I tried to dry him and put on his P.J.'s. He wailed that he wanted pink (strawberry) milk to sip as we read bedtime stories instead of the chocolate we had given him (for which he had asked, I might add). He fussed so much he missed "Goodnight Moon" almost entirely. He finally did give up on getting the pink milk and join in his bedtime prayers.

Anyway, so I'm thinking God must feel this way a lot. All the Lord asks of us is a little love and cooperation in return for the amazing love and divine care we receive. But instead we scream when God tries to clean us. We moan for things we don't have instead of appreciating what we do. We fuss instead of listening to God's voice speaking to us. It must be frustrating.

But eventually, when we become settled, I hope that God also hears us calling out to be held and comforted. I hope that we realize that we've behaved badly and want to tell our Heavenly Parent "I love you". I hope that we snuggle up to the heart of our Creator and listen to what the divine love tells us. In those tender moments, we realize that the only thing that matters is the purity of our love, the relationship that sustains and saves, the connection and trust we share in God's heart. And hopefully, hopefully, we learn to be a little bit better than we were the day before.