Broken Record
Our 14 month-old is on a wonderful journey of discovery. She loves exploring everything, and when I say everything, I literally mean everything. She has a knack for finding the one butternut pit that fell on the floor, or finding any electric cable in the house, no matter how well hidden it is. When she finds these 'No No' items she gets this sly smile on her face, and then runs with the cable in hand to me like she is doing me a favor by bringing it to me. Now this is all cute and fun the first few times it happens in the span of 10 minutes, but it quickly becomes quite frustrating when I become the broken record that says no to her over and over again. Even being creative and distracting her with things she is allowed to play with only lasts a little while before she finds her way back to the things she shouldn't be playing with.
Feeling like a broken record stinks. Repeating the same thing over and over again is draining and tiring, and yet having patience and remaining calm with her is vital. As I've been learning to parent a toddler, I have wondered whether this isn't maybe how God sometimes (or at times, often) feels when He teaches me and shows me His ways. He is the broken record saying the same things over and over again, and I am the infant child ignoring His words, continuing to think that the world revolves around me and that I can do what ever I think is right.
I am deeply grateful today for God's unending patience with me – That He, unlike me, doesn't grow weary of dealing with me in kindness when I ignore His words. Even when I continue to believe lies that He has told me repeatedly are not true, He keeps speaking the truth in kindness. When I don't believe that He loves me unconditionally for the millionth time in a row, He simply keeps showing me that He does. His patience and kindness never end.
Hopefully one day soon I will grow out of my toddler phase so that God doesn't have to be a broken record with me anymore. And hopefully I will then learn how to show unending patience and kindness to those around me as He does.