A Little Substance...

Every day after naptime, Sadie Beth asks me if we can go downstairs and snuggle in the "brown chair." She usually wakes up a little...um...we'll call it emotionally fragile (some might call it cranky), even if she's taken a great nap. While I don't love that she wakes up like a basket case (it's not really that bad), I do treasure our chair cuddles every afternoon. It only takes a few minutes and in no time she is her back to her sweet self. I understand. Her need for post-nap Mommy lap time isn't all that different from my need for Diet Mt. Dew.
Saturday proved to be a typical afternoon for after nap chair snuggles. As we cuddled and chatted, I thought about how precious that time is to me and how she is growing up so quickly. Jokingly I asked her, "Sadie Beth, when you are 15 years old, will you still snuggle Mommy like this?" I fully expected her to either answer yes enthusiastically or to just giggle at my silly question. You just never know what to expect with girls though, do you? She suddenly burst into tears and cried in the most pitiful sad voice I think I've ever heard, "Noooooooo!!!"

(Me) "Sweetheart, what's wrong? Why not?"

(SB) "Because....(sob, gulp for air)....I'll be too big...(another sob, gulp for air)."

(Me) "Oh, Sweet Pea, you'll never be too big to snuggle with Mommy."

(SB) "But we won't fit in the chair! (More tears, sniffling, and gasping for her breath)

(Me) "Don't worry about that, Honey. I think we'll fit, but if not, we'll get a bigger chair."

(SB) (Still sniffling, snuggling and pitiful) "Let's go do it now...."

My sweet girl. She certainly has a flare for drama, doesn't she? I love her heart. She just loves people and loves being loved back. All she wanted was to be safe in her Mommy's arms, to be close to me. The idea of not being able to have that closeness made her genuinely sad. It is amazing how interacting with my children so often teaches and convicts me in my walk with the Lord!!! Shouldn't that be how we feel about God? How long has it been since I've longed so desperately to be close to Him, to spend time with Him that the idea of being unable to do so makes me feel as Sadie Beth did when she thought about not being able to snuggle with me? She didn't respond half-heartedly, but with eagerness and urgency. When she realized a solution to her dilemma, she didn't want to wait. She wanted to take care of whatever was going to get in the way of her time to be close to me. I can only hope and pray that as they grow, my children will see in me the same sense of urgency to walk closely to the Lord.