On Independence and God's Love

I've been thinking about independence a lot lately.  There is something new happening in our household, and it has a lot  to do with independence.

The more Kayleigh learns, and grows, and does, the less help she wants from me or her daddy.
While I'm happy to see her becoming so capable of doing many things by herself, it also makes me a little sad that she doesn't need me as much as she used to.  What makes me even more sad is when she actively pushes me away.

I know that it's good for her to experience things, but at the same time, it's scary.  Right now in her precious innocence, she doesn't know that experiencing certain things can bring her pain.  She has no concept of heights, and is always milliseconds away from launching herself off of the edge of our bed, falling from the couch, or pushing out of our arms.  She's also the kid who wouldn't believe me that the stove was "hot" until she felt it for herself.

If I try to catch her, stop her from doing something that could lead to her harm, she grabs my hand with both of hers and thrusts it away as quickly and forcefully as she can, shaking her head and trying out her new favorite word: "Nuh!"

This is a stage that all children go through, I know.  But at the same time, how different are we as adults and children of God?

I'm certainly not going to compare myself to God, but I can say that I've come to a better understanding about the sadness God feels when His children don't listen to Him.  When Kayleigh pushes away from me and doesn't listen when I try to keep her from doing something that will hurt her, I am sad.  But when I push away from God and don't want to believe that His way is best, how much better am I at listening than my 11 month old daughter?

I laugh at my little girl's determination when she thinks she knows better than I do (i.e. climbing up the elevated brick hearth and crawling straight off of it is a great idea!), but then I go and rebel against God when things aren't working the way I want them to.

O, you of little faith.

Kayleigh's stubborn, independent nature is not going to stop me from loving her.  And I'm sure thankful that those traits my daughter inherited from her mother don't keep God from loving me, either.

No matter how many times my little girl falls down after pushing me away, I'm always going to pick her up and wipe her tears and kiss her owies until they're all better.  God does the same for all of His children, but now that I'm a mom, I'm ever so thankful that He's a much better healer, comforter, and parent than I am.

For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Romans 8:38-39