sweet spirit

Last night at dinner, Jake had a major meltdown. In fact, he had quite a few. Which is not too surprising since his nap lasted just under an hour that afternoon. I had made pork chops and rice with Grandma's recipe, green beans, salad, and rolls. We didn't bring the rolls out at first because we wanted to see if Jake would eat everything else. Lately Mark's been able to get home in time for all three of us to eat together. Previously Jake would eat by himself early, and then Mark and I would eat after he went to bed. Us all eating together has made Jake more willing to eat new things.

Anyway, Jake took bites of green beans, pork chops, and cucumbers from his salad without any prompting from us. As Mark and I got close to finishing our plates, we decided we had waited long enough and brought out the rolls. When Jake saw the rolls, he started asking for "bread please." We instructed him to eat a bite of anything on his plate and then we would give him a bite of bread. Needless to say, this did not go over well. Cries of "No!" and wailing ensued. We had him put his hands together and counted to 10 with him, which calmed him down immediately. After many rounds of this, he finally started taking bites of food and then receiving bread in return.

The title of this post comes form the fact that while he was having a few of his meltdowns, he put his hands together and asked us to pray! We have done this a few times when the counting has not worked, and he has even asked me to pray with him before when he's been really upset over being told no to something. However, this was the first time where he asked multiple times when he could feel himself getting out of control and crying repeatedly. After each prayer he would become calm and resume eating! It was like the tears and tantrum were on a switch, off and on!

We just pray that as he continues to grow and mature, he would desire to turn to the Lord for comfort in all things. We pray that he would have the joy and peace that comes from knowing Him intimately and trusting Him in all things, big and small. Having Jake ask us to pray with him when he was upset was a great privilege and reminds us of the responsibility we have to guide and instruct him in the love of the Lord. We continually beseech the Lord for wisdom and guidance and desire to be godly parents pointing Jake to the Truth always.