Teaching

So, for some strange reason our new puppy decided not to eat yesterday. In the business of getting 10 kids ready for church and out the door...I didn't think too much of it. Oliver mentioned it to me a few times that he didn't want to eat. He tried to feed him in several different locations. Nothing.



I didn't get worried until I had dropped the kids off at school, E off to preschool, and came home and noticed the full bowl of dog food. Hmmmn, thought I. Weird. So I called Cosmo over and showed him the food. He sniffed around. Walked away. I grabbed a handful and called him back. Held out my hand. He was RAVENOUS. Ate like there was no tomorrow. I picked up another handful and he began eating and I slowly moved my hand back to the bowl, dropped the food in, and waited. He sniffed, and walked away again. I scooped up some more, and BAM....hungry puppy gobbling down that food. Poor guy. So I sat there and fed that puppy, handful, by handful.

As I was just sitting here thinking about that experience, it made me think of my adopted children. They're not so much different from Cosmo right now. It's a difficult task to teach a child everything they need to do. And trust me when I tell you, it's far more difficult to RE-teach a child, because they learned things incorrectly. Because, let's face it, if no one teaches you how to eat, well....you use your hands. If no one teaches you how to speak correctly, you mimick whatever speech patterns surround you. If no one teaches you the proper way to take a shower, well.....you don't use soap, or shampoo, or deoderant (because there probably wasn't any in the house in the first place) and then you definitely don't dry off (probably because there was no towel either)....you just get dressed. And so you must start from the beginning, and realize that even if you're looking at a child who is 4, or 7, or 10....really, you're teaching a toddler. It's humbling. It's frustrating. It's rewarding.

And then, as I thought about my children, I thought about my Heavenly Father. I wonder if He ever feels towards me, like I feel towards my children. He's constantly teaching me, training me, giving me experiences to become more like him. Do I resist Him, as my children resist me? Do I test His patience, as my children test mine? I am so grateful for His patience with me.

I feel a bit like I'm in my daughter's 5th grade language arts class:

Cosmo is to Meredith, as Meredith is to Heavenly Father.....

hungry, being nourished one handful at a time.