Oh my word. David was just all sass and attitude today. Moody, defiant, cranky. Everything was an argument that ended in tears, whining and time outs.
It’s days like this when I think Hannah was on to something when she dropped Samuel off at the temple.
Do you know the Bible story?
Hannah promised God if he gave her a son, she’d give the child back to Him. Scholars guess that Samuel was somewhere between the ages of two and four when Hannah took him to the temple and gave him over to the care of Eli the priest.
(You’ll find the whole story in the book of I Samuel Chapter 1-3 in the Old Testament.)
As a baby David was, for the most part, sweet, and compliant and cuddly. It was smooth sailing until the toddler years. Even two wasn’t so terrible.
Nope. It all started at three here.
Suddenly David had an opinion about everything, and a big enough vocabulary to more than adequately express them. Four has been about the same. Only with an even bigger vocabulary.
So I think next Sunday after church I’ll present David to our head pastor, and say, “Here. He’s yours. God told me to give him to you.”
O.K. Maybe not.
Pretty sure they wouldn’t take him. And I’d probably find myself signed up for some pastoral counseling sessions.
No, David won’t be moving in with our pastor any time soon. And I don’t really want to give him away. Although military school is always still an option…
But I was right when I said Hannah was on to something. Even though they live under our roof, we can still give our children over to God.
I think of both my boys as gifts from God that I’ve been lucky to receive. I am entrusted by God to train David and Wade up in the ways that they should go. What an honor and an awesome responsibility.
Really from the moments I found out I was pregnant with the boys I put their lives in God’s hands. I pray on a regular basis that they grow up to serve God. I seek God’s wisdom in raising them.
And on days like this, more than any others, I rely on God to give me patience, a soft-heart even when I’m angry and to work in David’s heart to change his attitude.
But, you know, I still make mistakes. I do and say the wrong things. There is comfort in knowing that God is working in the boys’ lives, sometimes in spite of me.
In this temporary world David and Wade are mine. But they also belong to an eternal Father.
Praise God!
That’s not to say the Lord can’t work through a good military school. Anybody know one with a Kindergarten program?
We are going through the same thing in our house. Jackson is 3 1/2 and he can just be a pill sometimes. I do try to remind myself (and my husband) that “he’s only three.” “He’s only three.”
I know one day I’ll look back and miss these days. I try not to let them pass me by, even when I feel like I’m at my wits end!
Bill Hesse did have one guy put his car keys and the title in the offering plate one Sunday in
Dayton.
Some days are pretty trying around here too! I need to have a better attitude about them myself too. They really are a gift!