Exhibit B: Every other moment BUT the one I captured here.
Yep, I babysat again last night. I learned a couple of lessons from babysitting. First, I have an extremely poor short-term memory. I was expecting a four-month-old and a teenage mother. The mom is probably in her mid-thirties, and her daughter is definitely in her "terrible twos."
For the first hour of babysitting, we painted pictures together. Savannah said very little but was more interested in painting my picture than hers. After wiping the paint off her shirt, arms, fingers, hands, face, hair, and toes (don't ask me how she managed to get paint on her toes), we went into the living room to play with some toys. Savannah grabbed a book and came over to sit on my lap. I took the book, read it, and she stood up and walked over to the couch. "Savannah," I said, "Would you like to play with your Etch-a-Sketch now?" "Urrrgh," she grunted. I suggested a few other toys and each was met with a louder "urrrgh." Finally, I crawled over to her and was about to comfort her to try and figure out what was wrong, when she reared her arm back, balled up her fist, and attempted to punch me. I gently scolded her and the grunting continued. Finally, I crawled into the middle of her pile of toys and began playing with them myself. She continued grunting and growling for about a half an hour until she fell asleep standing up with her head laying on the couch. I woke her up for dinner, fed her some pizza, popped in a Dora movie, and she was surprisingly content. If I tried to talk to her, she growled and grunted, so I left her alone. When bedtime came, she was perfect. We put on her pj's, walked upstairs, read a book before bed, and I shut out the light. I walked downstairs and settled in to do some homework for the next three hours before her mother would return. Over the course of the longest three hours of my life, Savannah came downstairs seven times, crying for her mom. I comforted her each time, but eventually, she ended up sleeping in the recliner next to me. And it was there that she woke up yet again ... as soon as her mom walked in the door.
Needless to say, it was a rough night babysitting. Perhaps my roughest. And yet, in the midst of the frustrating, hectic night with a grumpy little girl, I was able to glimpse a little bit of God's beauty and perfection. When Savannah finally fell asleep in the chair, she had an adorable, peaceful smirk on her face. It wasn't a smirk of mischief; it was a smirk of complete shalom. After hours of grunting and growling at me, she had finally achieved peace and contentment at rest.
The second lesson I learned while babysitting has to do with the peace I observed. Maybe, in the midst of our frustrating, hectic, sin-filled lives, we do not take enough time for this peace and contentment with God. We focus so much on complaining and whining about how much is going or can go wrong in our lives that we completely miss the opportunity to simply sit back in perfect shalom with our Father and enjoy the rest He freely gives. So, today, take a moment to spend some silence with your Father. Soak up His love, enjoy the radiant promise of His grace and mercy, and rest in the knowledge of His unfailing love.
SHALOM.
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