Tomorrow He Might Drop His Fork

One morning a couple of weeks ago, John handed me his fork when he was finished using it and said, "All done."  This meant so much to me that I actually wrote it down so that I would remember to write about it.  Why in the world would such a seemingly meaningless thing affect me so?  Well, this is something we have been working on.  John had been in the habit, as most toddlers do go through this phase, of tossing his fork onto the floor just to see it fall and see what I would do.  I would tell him, "John, when you are all done with your fork you can give it to Mommy and say, "all done" instead of throwing it on the floor."  If this continued happening more than a couple of times, I would say, "Ok, if you throw your fork again, Mommy will take it away and you will have to use your fingers."  You see, he really likes being a big boy and using his fork, so he doesn't particularly like having it taken away.  Let's just say, he usually ends up using his fingers, and not being too thrilled for a moment.  So, when he handed me his fork and said, "all done," without any prompting from me, I was overjoyed.  I told him what a good job he did, and he was just smiling and so proud of himself for remembering.  Here's why I was so excited.  I see growth in obedience as a process...not something that is learned overnight.  I wondered if maybe God feels the same way I did with John that day when I choose to respond kindly to my husband in a moment of frustration, rather than snapping...just because it is such a struggle for me when I am stressed....or when I choose to let go of my need to control and just rest in my circumstances.  I'm sure He doesn't, because He is nothing like me...but I like to think that maybe He smiles in those moments, too.  I know that just like my path towards growing in obedience looks more like a roller coaster than it does like a mountain, my son will have many ups and downs along the way, too.  That is why I pray that God will guide me in each moment like this to know how to respond and train my child with grace and truth...because even though he handed it to me today, tomorrow he might drop his fork.