discontent

For those of you with children (and, yeah, the rest of y'all can relate as well)...


Savannah was fussing the other day. After several attempts to soothe her, I had placed her in the swing. She's started this new thing where she purses her lips and makes a grunting noise when she is tired. So she was doing that and just acting overall miserable. It was then that it dawned on me to finally try the one thing that always works. 


It's funny how as parents we can get so lost in the day that we forget the things that our children respond to. It hit me as a smack on the forehead (duh!) when I finally wrapped her up tightly in a light blanket, gave her her teddy, and rocked her while held securely in my arms. 


It's the same way with us, of course. Sometimes at our most discontent we complain, groan, yell, pout, throw dishes--choose your flavor or even add one under the "comment" section. We do everything that is fleshly and inherent in our sinful nature except go to our Father. He knows best how to soothe us.  


I wonder sometimes if I just like to feel bad. It feels good to feel bad, right? Well, maybe for a short time when an anger is "justified" or when I just feel like having a down day. But when I go too far, I'm off in the danger zone of self-pity and self-destructive tendencies. 


I am thankful that it doesn't take God a long time to realize what I need. And I am thankful that although I might fuss for quite a long time, he always knows how to deal with me. He will draw me to himself slowly, reminding me of how I've gone down that path before. Reminding me of how good it feels to rest in him. Reminding me whose child I am. 


Curling up in secure, completing, and loving arms sounds like a good ending or beginning of any day to me.

O Lord, you have searched me and known me! You know when I sit down and when I rise up; you discern my thoughts from afar. You search out my path and my lying down and are acquainted with all my ways. Even before a word is on my tongue, behold, O Lord, you know it altogether... If I take the wings of the morning and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea, even there your hand shall lead me, and your right hand shall hold me. Psalm 139:1-10