'Come and see mama, come and see the monster!'

My daughter, Emma (2 and a half) has created a new game.  This is how it goes;

 

  Emma - 'sssh!!  evwybuddy going to scware me.'

Mum - ' what's going to scare you Emma?' 

Emma - ' monster! going to scare me'.

Mum - ' where is the monster, show me where it is?'

Emma points to wall over at living room door.

Emma - 'ov there, come and see the monster muma!'

I head over and pretend to be scared of an imaginary monster, this delights Emma.

And so it goes on again and again until she tires of it.

Most of my day can be quite repetitive, for example; 

' Jacob, Jacob are you listening to me Jacob?'.

 Jacob is 'being' the Incredible Hulk and says ' I am not Jacob I am the Incredible Hulk' and I have to address him in this way as he runs about with no top on and scrawny arms while in his head he is green!!!

God gives us every moment of every day, even the boring ones and I am trying to be thankful for the ordinary as well as the extraordinary.  However, I am learning that there are also special moments in each day that bring us to look at our children in a different way, or to draw attention to their uniqueness.

 Emma loves to sing just now and just suddenly bursts into song after song. These moments make me fall in love with my children all over again and again. Don't get me wrong, there are times in the day where I could explode all over the place- mostly when they are having screaming competitions at 6am in the morning.

This makes me think of the verse -  'Sons are a heritage from the Lord, children a reward from him.'Psalm 127 v 3. 

I think God is trying to teach me that my children are a gift and not my property.  These unique little people have their own sometimes bizarre behaviour.  As a parent I have the responsibility to nurture these people, train them but they are still individuals and not replicas of Colin and I.  Sometimes I don't like everything they do, in fact, let's be honest quite often!  But God has given me as a mum and Colin as a Dad the mammoth responsibility of encouraging them, disciplining them and loving them.  I am so grateful that I can pray for help with such daunting tasks! 

Collette x