A lesson on grace. . . learned from one crazy night of toddler sleep

So last night. . .

Wait. That preface is not even close to accurate. More like this. . .

So yesterday. . .  the hours between 2pm - 2:30am were C. R. A. Z. Y.

Clara woke from her nap at 2pm acting 100% normal, happy, and energetic. The usual. And then the craziness set in. We are talking loud, uncontrollable tears, that all of our normal soothing techniques would not soothe. At first we thought her lip was hurting (she had scooted her way over to our side door window earlier in the day, lost her balance, and hit her face on the door while biting her lip at the same time which caused some blood and minor swelling). The tears kept coming, and coming, and coming, and she would have nothing to do with her milk, and only wanted to be held. We gave her a little bit of Tylenol to help take the edge off what I thought was an aching lip, and she basically cried so hard she eventually passed out in my arms from 4-5pm.

When she woke she seemed in slightly better spirits, so we decided to give her a bath (in Clara world a bath makes everything better) and feed her dinner. She lasted about an hour and then the crying started up again. Were not just talking fussing y'all, this was full fledged unconsolable cries, that are few and far between these days for our little girl. So we knew something was up.

To make a LOOOOONG story short, we finally got her in bed about 7:15pm, and she woke up every 45 minutes - 1 hour after that, until about 2:30pm, crying out in pain. We tried everything. Rocking, pacing the halls, bringing her in our bed, trying to give her milk. . . everything. We were able to calm her after each episode, get her back to sleep, and pray that she would stay down, only to be awakened by her poor ear piercing cries a few minutes later.

During one of those episodes, as I was rocking my sweet girl, saying a little prayer over her that this time would be the time she would settle down, God hit me with this. . .

"This pattern, sequence of behavior, is a lot like you, ya know? Time and time again you cry out to me and come to me with your hurt, pain, problems, behaviors, and every time I show you grace. Every time I scoop you up, hold you close, and pray that this time will be the last time you fall back into old ways. But no matter how many times you fall, I'm still here, waiting to scoop you back up again. Because I love you. Because I'm your Father. Because I give you grace."

Ummmmm Wow.

Nothing like THAT at 1:00am.

But it's so true. Isn't it? I always heard people say, and now know to be true, that being a parent gives one an entirely new insight to God's love, grace, compassion, and forgiveness towards us.

So while I in no way hope we repeat the events of yesterday, I thank God for the way He continues to teach and mold me, even in the wee hours of the morning.

Have you ever experienced something similar? What lesson is God teaching you today?

(And P.S. it wasn't the lip after all, it was all gas, which was really special) :)