Lavish Love

The girls went to sleep at Granny's tonight, and John was not happy about it. Daddy is out of town for a week, and once the girls left, John was upset. It was just he and I.

I started trying to distract him with toys. But he had other ideas. He went straight to the freezer and asked for a popsicle. He had already had one earlier today. And it had been a day FULL of giving in to him, over and over again about silly things. But, whatever. I put him in his highchair and gave him another. Once the treat was finished, it was on to more fun. He wanted to watch Wubbzy on TV, and I tried to snuggle with him. For just a minute, he put his little toddler hand on my head and patted me. I wanted to squeeze him closer.

Then we started reading books. Goodnight Moon was read multiple times, at his request. On the page of another book, he thought a boy was eating pretzels, so he insisted on having pretzels too. Lucky for me I had just bought a bag 2 hours earlier. "This is silly," I thought. Why should I give him yet another snack just because he sees pretzels in a book? Then I thought, "I can, so why not?" We snuggled some more with pretzels, milk, and more books. I read the tractor book over and over.

Determined to get him in bed for once before 9pm, I bribed him to come upstairs with the new Sponge Bob toothbrush I bought today. That kid LOVES to brush his teeth. I reapplied miniscule amounts of toothpaste multiple times, and he brushed and brushed and brushed. I decided to rock him and sing before laying him down. Each song was sung in the order that he requested them, and one was stopped in mid-song because he wanted Rock-a-Bye-Baby instead.

I held him close and watched his little eyes get sleepy. And I wondered to myself, how much longer will I have the privilege of rocking this precious little boy to sleep? I smiled to myself, thinking that he is SO spoiled rotten. Running around all day, doing things at the whim of a two year old. But I can, and I want to. I love him.

Isn't that so much like the love that God has for us, his children? There are so many things that we want, and don't need. So much that God could say "No" to. But He doesn't. He knows the difference between the things that are good and things that are harmful. And because He loves to lavish His love on us, He says "Yes" to so much. Why? Because He can, and He wants to. Because He loves us.