messiest day EVER

Do not let the wide-eyed, so-fresh-and-so-clean-clean-in-my-jammies look fool you: today was, by far, mine and Juliet's messiest ever. Between a GINORMOUS POOPY DIAPER and her newfound carrot craze, I did 2 loads of laundry (in addition to what her mom did last night), gave her a bath, changed two onesies and two pairs of pants, and came home with formula crystalizing in my sleeve and carrots crusting in my jeans.

Lovely, huh?

But I learned something again (round 5,843,052) as I was feeding her carrots (round 2).

She got so excited about that next bite that she destroyed it on several occasions. She was either so caught up in the frenzy that her flailing, enthusiastic little arms knocked the spoon onto my lap or the carpet, or she was far too distracted by reaching for the bowl that contained the carrots for me to be able to feed her. She is quick and her fingers grip tightly (ask my scalp), so I realized that the bowl needed to be out of sight, and I reminded her frequently that the process works better when she does not try to help me get the spoon to her mouth.

With the bowl hidden from her view, she was able to calm down, focus on the spoon, open her mouth at the right time, and enjoy her meal. It was also far less stressful for me.

The Lord knows I can only handle the task of eating one spoonful at a time.

My hands need to rest as I trust Him to gently feed me what He knows is best.

The bowl of the future needs to be firmly out of my sight so I cannot flail at it recklessly or grip it counterproductively.

So humbling to sit in front of a carrot-faced, 6-month-old little person and realize I am looking in the mirror. What a mess I must look like to my Heavenly Father! Ha! Forget looking like one, a mess is what I am, it is all I know how to make. Graciously He takes up His wet rag of mercy again and again to wipe my mouth, He cleans my hands, He removes the stains from my garments, and He patiently waits to lead me to the next bite of His provision. And slowly, far more slowly than Juliet's development as a human being, He is making me into a new creation, the image of His Perfect Son, my Savior. With painstaking patience He feeds me what grows me into the heart of Jesus.

So grateful that His grip is tighter than Juliet's bumbo seat, that His patience is infinitely longer than my own, that His wisdom exceeds my own unimaginably more than mine exceeds Juliet's, and that He loves me and loves feeding me good things.