Potty Training & God Training

I know that many women have been able to potty train their kids over night, but that has never been the case for me. Whenever I read an article that boasts, "Potty train your toddler in 24 hours," I want to laugh.

All their lives, toddlers have been doing their business in a diaper, and overnight they are expected to change everything they are comfortable with and used to. . . ?

Come on, now! How is that possible?!

Yes, I know some of you have experienced that potty-miracle, but not this chick; and I suspect many other women haven't experienced that miracle either.

My second born son is now almost three, and I must confess, I so wanted to keep a diaper on him until he turned 16. I have a lot of regrets from potty training my first born, and I was not looking forward to rehearsing all my mistakes.

This time I was determined to have realistic goals for my son. I decided to be a big ball of spiritual fruits -- patience, kindness, self-control, etc.

It has been two months since I started potty training my son, and he will go pee-pee in the toilet; but he still will not go poo-poo (you can add your own bowl movement euphemism).

When I first started potty training my second son, he wouldn't even sit on the toilet, let alone do his business. He was scared of it. So my only goal has been to de-fear him.

Everyday my son sits on the toilet after we eat lunch, and we play. I read him books, we sing songs, we play games . . . I do everything to make the toilet a fun place to be. I will continue to work towards making him feel comfortable, while demanding and expecting nothing from him.

Though he hasn't as yet completed the desired goal, I'm still proud of him. He has come a long way from the boy crying gator-tears, sitting with his legs in the air on the toilet. He now sits comfortably, while laughing and smiling.

Would you mind if I tied this potty experience into something that God taught me? He doesn't waste a good metaphor, does He?

God is constantly training us to be more Christ-like, and change is very hard. I have a friend who moved and lost all of her spiritual-support group. She is alone in another country, and she is having difficulty being intimate with God. She is very relational and not having the influences of her Christian friends has created a gap in her spiritual-growth -- a gap that God wants to fill.

She says that she doesn't feel God doing anything with her. She doesn't feel any great movements of the Holy Spirit. She wonders if she is doing something wrong.

I told her, "You are doing something right!"

God is allowing my friend to get comfortable just being with Him without her usual infrastructure of spiritual help. He is not pushing her or expecting much of her; He just wants her to get used to this new level of intimacy. Once she is comfortable, He'll be ready to ask more of her.

Do you feel like God is doing nothing with you? Are you scared because you are in the middle of change? Don't be hard on yourself! God will not push you! He cares for you, and He wants to make this transition easy.

"For my yoke is easy and my burden is light" (Matthew 11.30 NIV).

"Thank You, God, for making Your yoke light. Help me to understand that You are caring and gentle, not hard and demanding. Guide me and show me how You are making me into the perfect design that You created me to be. I pray this in Jesus' name, Amen."