Distract Me, Please!

 Finn is learning to be patient.  He's decided that he really likes having the TV on and will often run up to it and put his hands on it, letting us know that he'd like us to turn it on, and so this affords us a regular opportunity to teach him about patience.  We do let him watch some TV most days.  He currently enjoys Barney, Sesame Street, Curious George, and his favorite - this completely obnoxious thing called "Baby First" (no plot whatsoever - just cartoons characters bouncing around and super silly music).  But quite often we have to tell Finn, "It's not time to watch TV yet, we'll do that later."

You can probably all bring to mind a relatively accurate picture of a toddler's response to this sort of directive.  One of the beautiful things about 16 month olds, however, is that they are still young enough that they are fairly easy to distract.  So redirecting Finn quickly to some other activity is generally the best way to avoid much struggle in these situations.

This whole scenario happens on a regular basis at our house, but it wasn't until yesterday that I realized how similar I am to a toddler in my relationship to God and His plan for me.  I was at a women's Bible study yesterday, and at the end as everyone went around and shared prayer requests, I was struck by how each person in the room was, like me, having to wait on something.  And that is probably true of most people.  We all have issues in our life that we want resolved and we have to be patient for God to either resolve it for us (or in some cases, to show us that it's not His plan to resolve it - in which case we must resign ourselves to wait until heaven). 

As wonderfully faithful as God has been to us through our entire missionary itineration, it's so difficult not to dwell on the fact that we're trying to get to Peru, and we're not there yet.  I am constantly asking God for patience, and a willingness to accept His timing gratefully.

Like Finn, I so often run back to the TV, slap my hands on it, and whine that I'm not getting my way.  "Why is it taking so long?  I really just want us to be at 100% now so we can go!"  But just like how the TV isn't always the best thing for Finn (I know, I know, it's probably actually never the BEST thing for him), being in Peru is clearly not the best thing for me currently either, or else my loving father would have brought me there by now.

So my new prayer is this.  "Please, Father, distract me!  Redirect my attention away from the thing I'm waiting for toward the things that you have for me right now.  Please lead me like a toddler away from my discontentment and toward the activities that You have for me to do now.  Amen."

- Laura Dougherty