I abhor whining. Typically, when I hear a child whining, it invokes the same cringe one exhibits when they hear nails on a chalkboard. I don’t know why I can’t stand it, but I have always been that way.
Imagine my pleasant surprise when my oldest was not a whiner. Instead, he seemed to automatically know to not bother whining, and when whining did occur, he quickly changed his tune when redirected or told he could go whine by himself in another room.
In the last two weeks, my usual non-whiner has become a blubbering mess, and it is driving me up the wall!!!! I know it is a response to the move, and the uncertainty of what is going on in his three year old life. I understand that logically and rationally.
But, I am slowly going mad – not an angry-mad, but rather, a crazy-lady mad! Because I know this is a reaction to life’s uncertainty, I have given M a little more leeway in the whining, but I am struggling.
The more I ruminated on my scaling the walls, the more I started to wonder – how does God feel when I whine to Him? Does He take it in stride, or does He roll His divine eyes and say, “well, here she goes again”? Does He cringe?
That led me to ask myself how much time I spend whining? When life doesn’t go my way, do I gripe to Him? When I want something I think I should have, do I whine to Him to plead my case? Or, do I spend time simply thanking Him for what I do have, and what He has done for me?
Yesterday, I had to go get something from our garage and simply mentioned to my son my intentions. As I stepped out of the door, I heard my three year old wail, “Noooooooo! Don’t leave me,” and heard the sound of feet pounding the floor as he ran after me.
I made appropriate reassurances, but it led me to reflect – do I have the same reaction with God, when I need Him the most? Do I take the time to plead with Him to not leave me behind? Do I trust He won’t leave me?
Could that be one of the messages behind the Divine Mercy’s, “Jesus, I trust in you,” prayer? That simple, powerful phrase might serve as a reminder to my subconscious He won’t leave me behind.
Finally, all this leads me to ponder how I can teach these relatively simple, yet complex, trust lessons to a very precocious three year old…?