Answering our Cry

I'm learning so much about God's love for us through being a parent. Another sudden understanding came recently.

Some time ago Cooper rolled from his stomach to his back. He did it several times over the course of a few days and then stopped doing it. I wasn't too worried. I figured he'd do it if he needed to.

About a month later, he learned to roll from his back to his stomach. Well, apparently he really had forgotten that he could roll stomach-to-back, and he didn't like being on his stomach. So he would cry. And Don or I would roll him back over onto his back. The process would soon be repeated.

I finally wised up. I knew he was physically capable of rolling onto his back, but why would he bother figuring out how to do it if we did it for him every time? So I put him on the floor and sat in a nearby chair and watched. He rolled onto his tummy and cried. I sat and watched. It hurt to watch him cry, knowing I could easily solve his problem, but I knew it would be better for him if I didn't. After a few minutes of crying pitifully, he did it -- he rolled onto his back. Within a couple of days he was rolling across the floor with no effort.

Sometimes we cry out to God to answer a specific prayer for us, and He seems silent. We cry and cry, pleading for the thing we want, until finally we figure out what we need to figure out. God was there all along, watching over us, but He knew we would be better off if we had to work a little harder to learn something, rather than having Him do it for us.

So next time you think God isn't answering your prayer, think of Cooper rolling across the room. Maybe it will all make a little more sense. ( :