God's Molding

Jonah is fascinated by Jesus, apparently.  I mean, you won't hear me complaining.  I want to instill God's love in Jonah, but I can't wait for the day that he really grabs ahold of the Truth, and gets it.  In the meantime, I love the little precursors to his faith:

Jonah is afraid of the dark.  When he goes down the hall, he will pray aloud, as quickly as he can, as he runs as fast as he can to his destination, "Dear God, please protect me AMENNNNN!"

Upon his return, he sincerely shouts, "Thank you, JESUS!" (I can only presume for the protection on his journey).

Jonah loves flip-flops.  He has been begging to wear them all winter.  Well, Monday was a gorgeous day, so we had a picnic on the lawn out front, and I finally decided it was a good warm day for flip-flops.  Much to my surprise and amusement, Jonah, in his bouncy runnings around proudly declared, "Look, Mommy! I'm wearing flip-flops like JESUS!!"  Really?  That's his comparison for wearing flip-flops?  Oh, well, I'll take it, in the comfort of knowing God is just beginning a work in Jonah's heart....starting with sheer fascination :)

I often try to just rest in the reassurance and promise that  God is faithful to complete a good work that He has started in Jonah.  But, some days I'm a little dissuaded.  Yesterday was one of those days.  Jonah can throw some intense tantrums, full of rage, and they are quite disturbing.  I mean, his little voice even changes to this nasty sounding voice, as he spits and screams, and runs from me, and shouts the most hateful things that I didn't even know his heart could contain!

We had one of those yesterday, and I got caught up in a little pity party, wondering what I'm doing wrong, as a Mommy. I wondered, "What GIVES, God?"  How do I shape this little boy, without completely warping him or damaging him, in the process?  I wondered what I might be doing to contribute to his anger.

I stood in the kitchen, full of my own tears, as he cried out, and hurled his toys in his bedroom.  Soon enough, he came out of his room, looking disheveled and still out-of-sorts.  I said to him, "Jonah, if you still have an ugly attitude, then you need to go back to your room, right now."  And, for the first time EVER, Jonah started crying in true remorse for his behavior, ran and clung to my leg and, without any prompting or instruction whatsoever, sobbed in true unsolicited sincerity, "I'm sorry!!!"

Of course, I embraced him and we both cried.  And, I recognized that some things just take time.  But, they will click ... eventually.  And, God's got it all under His control, so the outcome is sure to be an incredible one....