“Answer me when I call, O God of my righteousness! You have given me relief when I was in distress. Be gracious to me and hear my prayer” Psalm 4:1
It was the second full week of Kindergarten and Porter (my 6-year-old little boy) and I were still adjusting, me more than him. He wanted to be independent and be a “Big Boy” so he was starting to walk into the school building by himself, walk to breakfast and then his classroom all on his own. Now I can logically sit here and tell you that this is a wonderful thing and that this is the goal in parenting, to raise an independent well-mannered child.
However, that was not the case on this particular morning, the fear of leaving my baby and the not knowing took over. I called my mom and started crying and listing all of the horrible things that could happen, what if he gets picked on, what if he gets lost, what if he… she interrupted me and calmly asked if I had read my devotional for the day yet. (We read the same one each morning called New Morning Mercies by Paul David Tripp.) I said no and she told me to go read it and listen. When I got to the church I quickly opened my devotional and started reading for the day and this is what it said, “Don’t complain to someone else, cry out to God. He’ll never turn a deaf ear to the cries of his people”. I continued to read and found myself realizing I was crying out to the wrong person. Although my mom is there to comfort me at times- she could do nothing for me in this situation. I realized that my cries to her were just wasted breath. The only way to have my cries heard was to cry out to God. Only He could help me to deal with my problems and calm my worries.
This is something that I’ve found myself struggling with ever since reading this devotional. I catch myself complaining to someone that can do nothing for my problem, and in the end, all it does it put the stress and worry of my problem on them. I’m trying to remind myself that in the difficult moments in life God wants to hear our cries, even if we can see that our problem might seem silly to others, God wants to hear our every worry and fear.
Taylor Easttom, Director of Children’s Ministry, Edmond Campus
