My daughter stood at the doorway of the kitchen and wailed this evening, as I peeled and diced potatoes. I was preparing to make mashed potatoes for dinner. But my sweet baby girl wasn’t having it. She stood there and cried, “Mama, mama, mama” incessantly until I finished and picked her up.
Many thoughts went through my head at the time mostly revolving around the idea of never making mashed potatoes again. But I’ve thought about it since then – and I have learned something. Two things actually. And I couldn’t decide which to share with you, so I will share them both. I have realized from this experience why I want so desperately to be just like my baby girl. But then also, in another way why I hope I’m not like her.
huh?
Okay – first – my daughter had some serious perseverance. She was not leaving the kitchen without me. She did not get distracted. She did not get quiet. She cried and called out again and again until I answered. She did not waiver once.
I need to be more like that. By comparison my prayer life is weak. I call out to my Heavenly Father, but I give up easily. If I don’t hear an answer in a few minutes, I give up. I’m distracted by other possibilities, other earthly offerings and I walk away. I do not always press through to reach His heart. Sometimes He wants to know I mean business, and unfortunately a lot of times I show Him that I don’t.
Now, what you need to know is that my daughter didn’t know what I was doing. Mashed potatoes are her very favorite. She requests them regularly – “Hot potatoes! Hot potatoes!” I think she would eat them at every meal. But here she was, pitching a major fit, trying to get me to stop my work in the kitchen and move me to do something else entirely.
I wish I wasn’t like this, but I am. There have been times in my life where I know that I have pitched a similar fit because I couldn’t see what God was doing, and therefore I assumed it wasn’t going to be good. So, I let him know, trying to get Him to stop the work, not realizing that what He was doing would be a huge blessing for me…
But there is good news. With my Heavenly Father there is always good news. He loves me in spite of it all. He knows what His plan is for me and He blesses me. In spite of my inability to pray properly, in spite of how many fits I pitch, His love knows no limits.
And so, I’m hopeful after learning these lessons from my baby girl. The next time there is something uncertain or unknown, I’m going to try to remember to spend time sincerely in prayer. But, I’m not going to protest – it might be mashed potatoes.
From Jeremiah 29: 11-12 “For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. Then you will call on me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you.”
Originally written February 2011.
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