tummy time

I have only been a parent for a very short while, but even in that short while I have begun to understand more clearly the concept of God, as a "Father".

The girls had only been home from the hospital about a month. I was trying to do all of the things I had been told to do, to encourage their growth and development. One of the things they needed to do most to help get them up to speed was "tummy time". The doctors had told me that they wanted them to have ten to fifteen minutes of tummy time three times a day to improve their strength. Because they were premies, it is even more important, because they are starting out behind for their age (although appropriate for their gestation). In the beginning, they could barely pick their heads up off the ground. Eventually tummy time will strengthen their neck muscles, as well as their arm and leg muscles… so that they will eventually learn to crawl and walk. They HATE HATE HATE tummy time.

One particular day I had laid the girls down on their playmates for their 15 minutes. It is getting better, but usually they fuss and cry during the majority of the tummy time session. I hate hearing them cry, but I know how important it is for them to do this exercise. I sit and watch them… even though I could jump to their rescue. Sometimes I have to stand a little distance so that I do not run to their rescue. Most of the time, however, I stand or sit very close…watching…hoping they can pacify themselves, but ready to scoop them up when they need me most… when I know they have taken all they can take. One day, when sitting, watching, even hurting for them, yet knowing that it was for their best, I was reminded of God. He sees our pain…he sees our trials, and although He could rescue us, He often does not. Yet does that mean He is far off? Or is it that He sits closer than even the good and easy times? In the same way that I know that their "suffering" during tummy time is actually what is going to allow them to grow strong… so that they can someday walk and have a wonderful (much more enjoyable) life than they currently have, He sees that even in our trials, we are being stripped of the bad in our lives, and IF WE ALLOW it, we can emerge out of the times stronger than we ever knew we could be. 

God is not far off. I bet if you could see Him, you could see that like me, our Father sits close, watching, occasionally offering a pacifier to help us get through our "tummy time", and ready to scoop us up if we are ever truly in danger…or when we have had more than we can bare. 

I hope that I can learn to be thankful for the "tummy times" of my life. I hope that I can realize that it is those times that will teach me to crawl…and then to one day stand...