For This House
Every Season. Every Space. All for Him.
Every Season. Every Space. All for Him.
My toddler recently graduated from diapers, and we’ve started the journey of potty training. While this is an exciting milestone, potty training has tested my patience, caused many a mess on my floors, and has also filled me with pride.
To think that the tiny baby I brought into the world just over two years ago is suddenly a semi-autonomous being capable of controlling her bladder is a little mind-boggling! But then again, she has shown herself to be fully capable of so many other things I thought she’d be too young to do, so why not this?
Despite being less than a month into this journey, I’ve had plenty of opportunities to reflect on the similarities between this learning process and my own faith journey. And while the comparisons might make some squirm in their seats, they’re a surprisingly accurate representation of my own spiritual development.
Two steps forward, three steps back. An accident-free morning will send my hopes soaring, just to be followed by an afternoon poop-in-the-pants, feeling like we’ve been sent back to square one. Despite the setbacks, we push forward in the process.
Similarly, my walk with Jesus ebbs and flows. There are times when I am diligent in spending time in the Word, only to be followed by days when the busyness of life gets the better of me, and I fall out of my habit. But Lamentations 3:22-23 reminds me His mercies are new every morning, sure as the sunrise. Simply because I’ve failed this time (‘pooped in my pants’ in this analogy, if you will) does not mean the Lord has stopped loving or supporting me. Instead, He gives me His mercy, reminds me of His faithfulness despite my human-ness, and sends me on my way to try again.
I can’t force potty skills, no matter how hard I might try. My daughter needs me to cheer her on through this process and support her whether we have success or a setback. Despite the fact that this is a new skill she must learn, the entire process is a team effort.
Through my spiritual walk, there have been many skills I’ve needed to learn and sharpen. For example, my daily habit of spending time in the Word or showing compassion to my toddler and others around me. While I’ve been able to work on some of these skills in the solitude of my personal time with God, the strength of my faith would be lacking if I didn’t have the support of sisters and brothers in Christ surrounding me, encouraging me along the way. Having the support of a Christ-filled community reminds me I am not alone in this walk; I am part of a team.
At some point in this journey, I learned that hovering over my toddler only increased her accidents. She needed me to give her some space to explore her new skills in order to build her confidence in them.
How many times have I found myself hovering God for answers to my prayers? Clinging tightly to my own expectations for how He should answer them or direct my path, leaving little room to trust that He knows what’s best for me. Just as my daughter needed me to give her my trust in order to grow, relinquishing my expectations of God allows my reliance on Him to grow.
After days of ups and downs, this process can feel a bit discouraging. But I continue to press on in the journey because I’ve seen progress so far, even if it’s small, and I know that sticking with this will produce the desired outcome: potty trained. Building habits takes time and repetition.
Similarly, there are times when walking by faith can start to feel discouraging. Sometimes, life feels like it’s hitting me from every angle, and I wonder why God is letting these things happen when I’ve been faithful in my walk with Him. But potty training has reminded me the daily habits in my walk with God are water for my spiritual roots. I cannot see these roots growing daily, but I know they need care and one day, they will produce fruit even if I can’t trace the growth day-to-day.
If you only take one thing away from these potty-training ramblings, let it be this: allow the activities of your life, the ones you find exhausting and tedious, to be opportunities to examine and grow your spiritual walk. Never did I see myself comparing my spiritual walk to the nuts and bolts of potty-training my toddler, but here we are. Whether you are a person who enjoys analogies or not, I hope you receive the opportunities to see God and your relationship with Him reflected in the everyday, mundane tasks that you complete.
