Proud Mama

I am a proud mama. Can't help it. One thing I have to brag about is how E is learning to choose joy. It's not an easy thing to do for anybody, but it's a considerable challenge for a 20-month-old who is only starting to understand that she will not have all of her desires met all of the time. I think it's an important lesson, but it's definitely a lifelong learning one.

For example, today my husband and I stepped in to serve in a Kindergarten Sunday School class. Fourteen kindergarteners crammed into a tiny room with an off-limits staging area, and you can only imagine the fun we had. At the end of the morning, we were awarding some candy to kids who answered questions correctly from the Bible story (side note: How do you tell a 5-year-old that "God" is not always the answer...when in all actuality, He really is?). One particularly cute little girl came up to me afterwards and said, "It makes me very sad that I didn't get a piece of candy." Her courtesy and gentleness made me want to give her three pieces, to be honest. But I also wanted to see how she would handle the unfairness of not being given something that someone else had been given. From my warped point of view, that's a Bible lesson in and of itself. 

E is starting to get it. We are constantly telling her "no crying" when she starts to turn on the tears because she hasn't gotten her way. Just today when I gave her that same instruction, I watched her tuck in her quivering lip and bat back tears while she willed herself to choose joy instead of sadness over something she was not allowed to have. And this mama celebrated a moment of victory for her little child. 

Truly, there is a time for tears. We will hopefully honor those times that E's little heart grieves. But for those moments when E can stare sorrow in the face and choose joy in Christ over the world's trouble, I will be her biggest fan.