Our Toddler Tantrums
Any parent can tell tales of the terrible twos and threes! Toddlers are notorious for meltdowns, ignorance when walking where angels fear to tread, or putting foul stuff in their mouths.
And yet. How lovable! How we adore those little ones despite it all!
Have you ever thought about how God sees us, children of God, as we fit into that spiritual toddler stage of life?
Yes, sorry to say, we are often like those toddlers in all their lack of glory.
We grow enough to get walking about and then stumble over everything in our path and run toward the nearest object of doom! Most of the trouble we get into is due to our own stupidity, as our eyes, lusts, and characters knock us to our knees every time.
We want and cannot have, we say ugly things, we have no patience... on and on the list goes. Have you considered how the book of James is like a manual for wayward toddlers? Have a look at just one passage:
What causes fights and quarrels among you? Don’t they come from your desires that battle within you? You desire but do not have, so you kill. You covet but you cannot get what you want, so you quarrel and fight. You do not have because you do not ask God. When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures.
James 4:1-3Yep! Toddler action in the spiritual realm is evident!
But the glory of God is clear! HE is that wondrous Father full of love for the little one, despite the snotty nose and legs persisting in dashing toward the cliff.
He is teaching us, spiritual toddlers, step by step, picking us up yet again from our falls and dusting us off to begin again. Never doubt that just because we mess up, that HE should ever love us less. He knows who we are.
The question is, do WE remember what we are?
And, above all, we must remember who HE is! A Father who loves and rescues as we grow. A Father who teaches and guides in development. A Father who loves His child, knowing that each of us toddlers will grow out of this stage and grow closer to His elder brother, Jesus, our Lord!
So, take heart, little ones, in the grace of God! This awkward phase will pass as we cling to Father's loving hand, His careful teaching.
Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.
James 1: 2,3,4The bonked heads and painful falls can serve us well. Take the hand of our loving Father who will lift us back up to begin again, a bit smarter each time as we grow and develop in HIM!