Thursday, August 11, 2016

His Perspective Is Better

His Perspective Is Better -- Becoming a mom has taught me some very interesting lessons about God. Including how sometimes he can just see better than we can.  {posted @ Unremarkable Files}
photo credit Partha S. Sahana

My baby was not a fan of his last pediatrician's visit.

Not. A fan.

He was fine with being weighed and measured. He was okay about being dressed down to his diaper and prodded and turned this way and that.

But he was violently opposed to the immunizations at the end.

Since he's my sixth baby I've definitely done this before, but it was still the worst to watch his innocent face crumple when the nurse plunged the needle in his leg.

He didn't know what was going on or why, he only knew that this was the worst possible thing that could be happening to him. And he reacted accordingly.

It was in that very unlikely place, comforting my screaming baby on a tissue paper-covered exam table, that I realized something about God.

He knows exactly what it's like to watch one of His children suffer through what they're sure is the worst thing ever, even if they can't possibly understand right then that it's for the best.

One of the things I believe as a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Mormons for short) is that God is my father, and I'm His child. So even though I didn't realize it when I started having babies, I was about to learn a whole lot about Him just by becoming a parent myself.

God knows that all the trials and hardships I suffer through are ultimately for my good. Even the serious ones that seem catastrophic at the time (and maybe for years afterward) are like sandpaper smoothing away my rough edges.

I'll be the first to admit that when tragedy strikes, I lose all semblance of perspective. I get anxious and scared, assuming it's going to be terrible now and forevermore. But God's not worried. He knows that it's not going to be this hard forever, and that it's going to turn out alright.

His Perspective Is Better -- Becoming a mom has taught me some very interesting lessons about God. Including how sometimes he can just see better than we can.  {posted @ Unremarkable Files}

Taking my son in for immunizations wasn't my favorite day, but if I could go back and do it again I wouldn't have changed a thing. He certainly couldn't see it, but we weren't just making him needlessly suffer there in that office. We were trying to protect him from some truly awful infectious diseases.

Hopefully the next time some disaster rocks my world, I'll remember this moment with my son in the pediatrician's office and ask my father God, "Is this suffering, or is it medicine?"


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11 comments:

kaustin said...

I love this. I have learned so many things about how our Heavenly Father through motherhood. These lessons come out of nowhere and many times I still don't want to listen to what I have learned because they are so hard.

Jenny said...

It's amazing what having kids will do to you

Alicia @ Sweeping Up Joy said...

We had 1 year shots for Bea this week...and it was hard to watch.

Thanks for sharing. Sometimes it's difficult to remember that suffering, especially suffering of a child, can really be medicine in some way that I can't understand. Yet.

Queen Mom Jen said...

This is lovely Jenny. After my mom's stroke this summer I had lot of these same thoughts. The intense fear and sadness that was then replaced by a calm assurance because he knows the plan, he loves me and that I can do hard things with his help. I grew a lot this summer. It wasn't fun, but I am a better person at the other end.

Budget Splurge Beauty said...

phew, thought this might have been an anti-vax post when I first started it. Glad to see that wasn't the case :P

Chaun said...

"Is this suffering or is this medicine?"

That's some deep stuff right there sister. I'll have to think on that one some more.

Jenny Evans said...

I think there's enough inflammatory stuff on the Internet without me adding fuel to the fire, don't you think??

Jenny Evans said...

I had in mind some members of my ward who have lost their husbands as I was mulling this over. I can't think of a more intense refining fire than that.

Jenny Evans said...

You are preaching to the choir on that one. I am oh so wise sometimes, but still don't act on what I know because I'm also work-averse and don't like things that are difficult.

PurpleSlob said...

Wow, that same quote Chaun had, struck me deeply as well.
Great perspective!!
Thanks for making me think of suffering in that light. WE hear all the time, "God is only doing good things for you." paraphrase
But then we wonder how this could be good when it hurts so much??
Now, I have an analogy to help me understand better.
Thanks, I needed that!

Michelle said...

Suffering or medicine. I'm going to remember that.