Baby Steps

*NOTE: I found this post I had made a few weeks ago and never finished. I thought it was worth finishing.*

Do you ever feel like sometimes you're being stalked by the Irony Fairy?

Or maybe the Humble Fairy? (I'm pretty sure they're related.)

On Sundays I get to teach some of the cutest (and most lively) kids I've ever met in my life. On any given Sunday there are between 4 and 10 kids between the ages of 3 and 8.

It's always an adventure.

A few Sundays ago I was teaching a lesson about how God answers our prayers. The kids all knew that God answers prayers and that they can always pray. The main point of the lesson, though, was that sometimes the answer is no.

So to give them a good base, I had them pretend that they were the parents and that I was a little kid. I asked them a bunch of things and they got to decide yes or no. One of the questions (from my teaching manual) was whether or not I, as the child, could go play outside in the cold in just my swimsuit. One of the little girls (age 6) gave me a strange look and said, "Why would you even ask that?!"

It was priceless, coming from her especially.

Another example from my teaching manual was about a boy who was too sick to play outside. His mom said that he had to stay inside. He prayed that he would be allowed to go outside. His mom still said no. That confused my kids to no end. "But he prayed for it!" I had to explain that sometimes God's plan is not the same as our plan and that we have to trust that God knows what is best, just like we trust that our parents know what's best.

I thought it was a good lesson and the kids might actually have learned something (gasp!)

Boy did it come back to bite me in the butt. 

There have been quite a few things going on in my life that I have been praying and waiting for. Some of them have been going on for a while. Lately it seems like there has been no progress at all, after what I was assumed would be a sure thing. It's frustrating.

Just like that boy, I expected to get what I wanted it because I prayed for it. And just like the boy, I was hurt because I didn't get it right away. Lately I've been working on my patience. I pray for patience with my life, especially with Ellie.

But I want patience and I want it now, dang it!
(Why would you even ask that?!)

So I'm here to say that I've learned my lesson for a little while. I feel humbled that it took a Primary lesson that I thought I knew all the answers to to finally figure it out.

But I'll probably still complain about it, because that's what I do.

Baby steps.