I started thinking today about parenting and being a child of God. I feel like I’m in three very different stages of parenting with my three right now, so I can only imagine how God feels as a “parent” to all us children. I also started thinking about the good and bad of each phase and how it also relates. Here goes…

1. My oldest is all of a sudden big enough to do everything, and I mean everything, on his own. At least, he thinks this. He wants no help from anyone, and he makes lots of mistakes and gets incredibly frustrated.

I started wondering how often I do this to God. How often do I think that I can do it on my own with no help, no prayers, no scripture to guide me? How often do I go the way I want, and then get mad and frustrated when it dead ends?

2. My middle is stuck in the middle, literally. He wants to do his own thing and make his own decisions, but he knows he can’t. So, his solution is to yell at me. A lot. He wants to put on his shoes, fumbles the socks, and then yells at me. I wasn’t even involved!

I feel like I do this a lot in my relationship with God. I yell a lot. This is not the way I wanted it to work out! This is not easy! This isn’t making me happy! But I never asked God for help, even though I knew I was over my head. I just started and then yelled. No petition for help and no follow through from my side.

3. My little is still very little. And he’s needy. He needs help reaching things, eating, dressing, bathing, being changed, everything! He asks, in his own ways, for help. It’s pretty constant, but I don’t mind because I know he can’t do it for himself. He’s grateful for the help, with hugs and high fives. He knows he needs me, and he loves me for it.

Even though being needy is usually considered a negative thing, I think this is what God wants from us. He wants us to turn to him constantly. He wants us to be grateful. He wants us to love Him and feel His love. He wants us to be needy.