Lessons from Babysitting

I had the wonderful gift of getting to watch the children of one of the staff workers at emi last night.  Their ages are about 5,3 and 4 months…  Going into the night I was curious how it would go- a little glimpse of what it is like to be the mother of three children if only for a few hours…  I prayed walking in for God’s guidance and help throughout the evening and for Him to be my support and guide. 

With a crying 4 month old who just did not want to take the nap his body was so desperately desiring, I was so thankful for the Dr. Seuss DVD that had the older two captured.  I was reminded of how amazing mothers are with their gift for doing what takes others two hands and a lot of concentration with only one because a baby is in the other.  The apple corer slicer was not going to happen with one hand no matter how much I tried… With an extremely simple dinner for the kids finally made I tried to coax the 4 month old to sleep by rocking him, singing, walking around, patting him… all to no avail.  Finally- recognizing that nothing I was doing was working I just sat there holding him and praying for Him that God would bring him peace and rest.  He started to calm down and the next time I looked down he had fallen asleep.  What I was unable to do in those twenty minutes God showed me He was able if I simply just bring it to Him and ask.  When I gave up my control of the situation and asked him in… He was able to work.

I put him in the rocker swing- where he opened his eyes but was content long enough to have dinner with the older kids.   We talked and had fun at dinner and afterwards the 4 month old started getting fussy again because he still had not taken the nap he needed- perfect timing not to disturb dinner though.  We all played some Boggle Jr. together and I had to step out to get the 4 month old to sleep again.  As I stepped in to check on the game- the 3 year old was crying and the 5 year old had ran and hid.  The 3 year old told me that her brother had hit her in the nose with a block.  With her crying and the 4 month old crying I asked the 5 year old to come over to me so we could talk about it.  Knowing he had done wrong he started crying because he did not want to come over and have to apologize.  All three kids crying!  Oh man… I was overwhelmed thinking about how Moms do it…  finally we all were able to sit together and talk about the situation and apologies were made. 

It was time to get ready for bed so the two older children went upstairs to go to the bathroom and do all that while I sat down to get the four month old to sleep again.  I looked over at the dog and started thinking- at some point I want to have children but there is no way I could stay in control and on top of all these things.  That is when in dawned on me… I try so hard to maintain this sense of control but the point is that we can’t… no matter how hard we try we cannot do it on our own and having children really would mean giving each moment and second to God in it all.  That no matter how hard I would try to always be ready and prepared I could never be.  Each day would require coming to God to be refilled and to be prepared for what lies ahead.  Reading 1 Corinthians 13 from a frame on the wall, the 4 month old finally fell asleep for good and I put him in the rocker swing.  Upstairs the bedtime process had begun… we finally got in their room and read the stories they picked out, I sang a pretty lame song I made up about motorcycles for them but redeemed myself with *Twinkle Twinkle* and then we had prayer time.

Prayer time was so adorable.  It was such a sweet reminder of Matthew 18:2-4:

“He called a little child and had him stand among them. And he said: “I tell you the truth, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. Therefore, whoever humbles himself like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.”

We went around and said the things we were thankful for and those things we wanted to ask God for… The three year old was so thankful- for mommy and daddy, her brother, mommy’s meeting, Jesus… everything but also wanted to pray for “Jim body hurt” and her friend Ryan.  When we started praying the 3 year old would pray for one thing and then turn to me asking what the other things she had said were… and then close her eyes really tightly, say it and then ask for the next.  She even said “…and thank you for the girl sitting here with me right now…” about me getting to be there with them.  It was such a cute reminder of the pureness in children and their prayers and their thankfulness for even the simplest things that I take for granted that is the type of faith we are to have.  I loved it. 

Then I tucked them both in and made it downstairs just as the 4 month old was waking up to be fed.  Feeding him I had time to think about how sweet even times of silence and peace are- especially in the midst of everything that seems to be so chaotic and crazy.  Time to be thankful for how wonderfully God worked the timing out that night… and to thank Him for the reminder that He is in control.  It was a great night and I felt very blessed to have the opportunity to learn from these children.