I'm not sure what you other moms of youngsters experience, but for me, one thing is always true. If I need to do something, that is when I'm being pulled on to refill sippy cups, provide food, wipe a snotty nose, find a lost sock, locate a financial document, you name it. I feel as if my attention is constantly divided and yesterday was no exception.
I sat down in our comfy recliner to do my Bible study and that was mistake number one. If you want to get anything done, you have to put your materials out of reach of baby hands. For me that means our counter-height dinning table! So to give you a picture of what this looked like. I'm sitting down with Bible, study materials, colored pencils, highlighter, etc all in my lap. I have Brynna positioned on the floor in front of me trying to grab just about anything she can reach. Oh, and let's give a honorable mention to our dog, Pepper, who is desperately trying to find a way to sit in my lap while it's covered with paper!
Then there is Caden sitting next to his dad on the couch. As soon as Caden realized I had my colored pencils out, the war was on. He wanted to color, and not with his colors, with mine. No problem really expect there is one special colored pencil. It's an expensive multi-colored pencil. And he's already lost one refill. So, it's off limits now. I removed the special pencil and gave him the bag filled with all the other bright colored pencils. I told him he would play with any in the bag. His response was typical. "I don't want those, I want this one." He only wanted to play with the one that was off limits. He went so far as to slump over, head down, stomp off to his room, and profess that he could not play with the bag colors. This of course, resulted in muffled laughter from Aaron and I.
While this experience was a bit frustrating I did see a lesson I'd thought I'd share.
Here is my son, whom I love, asking something of me and I want to give him what he desires but there was a slight restriction. Nothing major really, just not this "one". That then became all he could think of. Aren't we all a bit like that?
God tells us that we can have so many things but He does restrict us in certain areas. Those are the areas we tend to think on. We forget that He has given us so much we can enjoy. We focus only on the things He has said are not good for us.
This experience reminded me of a story. The one in the garden when God said not to eat of a particular tree and Adam and Eve did. They lost their ability to please God, to walk with him, because they disobeyed him. This propensity to go our own way is so evident in my son. His own sinful nature brings to light mine. I see, in a small way, how God must think of our own disobedience and willfulness. I wonder at times if God shakes his head at me and thinks, "Oh child" as I often do with Caden.