Before you read any further, if you have 5 minutes and 55 seconds, please watch this video:
If you don’t have 5 minutes and 55 seconds, at least go to the 3:48 mark of the video.
If you have no additional time outside of the 3-5 minutes it’ll take you to read this article, well, maybe watch later!
A few weeks ago, we were having a really hard time with our middle child – our almost 5-year-old daughter. Her behavior wasn’t… great. Her tone wasn’t… ideal. Her feet stomping wasn’t… well, acceptable. It just felt like all of a sudden, we had a little girl with LOTS of emotions all at once. Our go-to move of taking away all of her stuffed animals wasn’t even cutting it. I felt like I was drowning. My patience didn’t reset with sleep. She wasn’t budging. No matter how much attention she got, it didn’t seem to make a difference. All of this to say – we were going through it.
I want to make one thing VERY clear. My middle child is so sweet. She’s caring and nurturing and gives the best hugs – even when you don’t ask for them. She loves Mary and learning about Jesus. She’s also really funny when she doesn’t even try. So this sudden shift in behavior felt HUGE.
As parents, we usually see the worst of our kids. Our home is their safe place. Whereas they might be holding it together all day at school, or in the library, or at stores, or at extended family functions – at home is where they allow themselves to not be “on”. Just like us as adults, really. So while we continued to hear things like: “Oh she’s so sweet!” “She’s such a good listener!” “She is SO good!” … well, we were feeling quite the opposite. But I KNOW my daughter is GOOD. There’s no doubt about it.
On one particular day, it was a bad day in our house. All three kiddos were “going through it”. My husband, who attended the National Eucharistic Congress, decided to try and find some of the Praise and Worship from the event on YouTube. Our kids RARELY get to watch TV, so this was a last ditch effort of making it to bedtime. He had previously mentioned to me Sarah Kroger and Matt Maher’s rendition of “Waymaker” at the NEC and said it was the best he had ever heard. So when he found it on this particular day, he decided to play it (the above video in case you didn’t watch it).
We were all sitting on the couch and what happened next was well, exactly what I needed. My sweet, stubborn, headstrong daughter started BELTING the lyrics. She couldn’t stay sitting. She stood up and started swaying and singing along. My mouth all but dropped open, and I just sat there, unable to look away from her. She was smiling SO big and kept singing and singing without stopping.
I can tear up quite easily, so it’s not ever surprising if something makes me teary-eyed. But I was full on weeping. And an absolute blubbery mess when we got to the 3:48 mark.
“Even when I don’t see that You’re working, Even when I don’t feel that You’re working, You never stop. You never stop working.”
In that moment, all of my worries about my daughter subsided. Because God is always working. On little girls with big emotions. On mom’s who worry about their kids. On dad’s who have daughters and wives with big emotions at the same time. On all of us.
I rewatched that video (well, more like I watched it for the first time) before writing this. I was reminded of other little things. Like our daughter stopping her singing to say “what’s that brown thing moving under Jesus” at the 1:35 mark (the priest’s head, lol). And hearing the crowd sing at the top of their lungs. And babies crying. And how big the monstrance was. Yet again, I was weeping. God is always working on us. Even when we don’t see it or feel it. God is always there. He never gives up on us. Never give up on Him.
