Parenting is a hard job – no matter what stage you are at. I am at the Mimi stage & loving it.

A few weeks ago, my daughter & I had a conversation about behavior modification. You know the one….you discuss how to change your child’s behavior. Of course, being the “expert” that I am, I made suggestions & the plan was implemented….

• Ten days of good behavior.
• A sticker for each day.
• A prize.

So yeah, bribery of sorts. Welcome to our family! But I must say, it is working!

First week, Sophia was able to buy her Sophia The First doll. She was thrilled. But this is not about behavior modification or prizes. This one is about me.

The realization hit me FULLY and HARD. Summer was almost over. School would be starting. Change was in the air. Sophia would start kindergarten, a full day program at the school she attends. She would no longer be here at my house, every day, full time for me to watch while her parents went to work each day.

OK, I will admit, I cried the first day that each of my children began kindergarten. A better word would be – bawled as it was a long, hard & ugly cry. But there was no way anyone could have prepared me for the feelings which I now felt welling up inside. I had watched her since birth – five years. Every school day as her momma went to teach. Those days were coming to an end for me.

So I did what I had to do – for me. I needed to get more time with this child I love deeply.

I came up with the next “prize”.

“You get your next 10 stickers & Mimi will take you out. We will go to Plaster Fun Time.”

We had been there several times already. She has loved it every time.

Sophia is successful & earns her next ten stickers.

She paints. We talk about so many things – swimming lessons, feeding the birds, a birthday party she had attended,  the last time we had been to Plaster Fun Time, and which colors she should select.

It is then that she tells me her summer is almost over. She asks me if we can do some more special days – just the two of us.

“Mimi, can we do what we always do? Can we go to Jordan’s for lunch & ice cream?”

I look at her face & I realize that she wants to spend time with me as well. Little did I know, five years previous, how this child would somehow wrap herself equally as deep around my heart as my own two had done. I had provided daycare as a favor for her momma & somehow I had been the recipient of so much more than I had given.

For who can put a price on love?

Of course we go to Jordan’s for lunch. We sit by the water display like we have in the past. We eat lunch together. And when the music & the water display begins, she gets up to watch & to dance with joy & abandon & laughter.

To look at these pictures, one might think that I have provided a fun day for a little girl. But truly, if you look closer & you were to get behind the scenes, you would notice that it was she that gave me a memorable one. We cannot give without also receiving. My heart is full.

As I watched Sophia paint & laugh & dance today, I was reminded…

He called a little child and had him stand among them. And he said: “I tell you the truth, unless you change and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. Therefore, whoever humbles himself like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.

(Matthew 18: 3 NIV)

Sophia had no preoccupation with the fact that she would be observed by others. She danced with abandon; laughed with joy & was certain that she is loved. As free as she was, her dependency on us was also never more visible. She was free to be herself because she was confident that we (the adults in her life) would take care of her & protect her.

Jesus tells us that we need to become like children. He calls us to recognize our complete & utter dependence on God. Our reliance on His mercy, each & every day. Children live unconcerned as to where their needs will be met as they know that their parents will provide. There is not yet an independence that must totally do it for themselves.

In that few minutes at Jordan’s, watching Sophia, her actions spoke an entire message to me…. I need to become like her. I found myself full of hope that my God will provide for needs that I cannot meet. He will make a way. The question before me is actually a simple one….

{{Am I going to be like a child, whose confidence is trusting in the goodness of my Father, or am I going to  place confidence in myself?}}

My prayer this morning? “Lord, may I be like a little child!”

Today I am joining Behind The Scenes and Titus 2 Tues. and Unite and Tell Me A Story and Titus 2sdays and Teach Me Tues. and Wed. Prayer Girls and A Wise Woman and Thankful Thurs. .