I love the honesty of small children. The raw emotion of it all. If they want need to throw a temper tantrum in the middle of the mall at Christmas time because their shoes are way too tight, they do. If they are scared of a new situation or person and do not want their parent to leave their side, they cry. (And it works.)
If someone is seriously ticking them off and not doing what said toddler expects, they have no problem saying “I NO LIKE YOU!!! YOU MEAN!!!” They have no sense of what is socially acceptable, and even if they did, they wouldn’t care.
All three of my boys have said sweet little things to me that I cherish. Once, when Michael was about 2, he was getting in trouble. The scene went something like me saying loudly ,”Michael Arthur, if you don’t…” — only to be interrupted by him matching my volume level with “YOU’RE GORGEOUS!” How can you punish that? Smart one, he is.
Evan just had to look up at me with his sweet eyes and say, “Mom, I like you” and I was (and still am) completely wrapped around his little finger.
Recently Eric and his friend were discussing an opportunity that would result in a nice extra blessing for us.The guys were talking about how nice it will be and how wonderful God was for letting that come our way. I admitted to them both that I was so jaded that, while I was grateful to The Lord for the extra income, my initial reaction was “Oh, great. What catastrophe is He providing for ahead of time?”
The men gave me blank stares, but my little three-year-old piped up with a response I never expected to hear.
He said, “Mommy, you better than that.”
I’m better than that? Did he just say that? He did.
My three-year-old spoke truth into my life a week ago and it has rocked my world. I believe God has been showing me that truth for a month now, but when it was a verbal sentence from my own child, I actually listened.
I am better than that.
I am better than the negative thoughts that ring through my head about my body, my lack of ability and my potty mouth (Yes, I curse. I’m trying to stop — REALLY trying.)
Galations 5:1 says, “It was for freedom that Christ set us free; therefore keep standing firm and do not be subject again to a yoke of slavery.”
The church to whom Paul was writing had listened to a lie. A lie that had stalled their effectiveness. How many lies do we believe? Do they keep us from being completely surrendered to His will?
We are treasured children, made in His image. We are “created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them” (Ephesians 2:10). He has jobs for each of us. He made us to accomplish those jobs. When I am struggling to accept His goodness then I am not adequately equipped to finish the task.
He is love. He is real. He is good. And He can even use a three-year-old wild child to speak truth into my life.