Corn and Ice Cream

As we neared the end of dinner tonight, I praised Brynna for eating well. If you've spent more than 5 minutes with BG, you know this is a feat worth congratulating. How she runs with more energy than most people while simultaneously eating less than most parrots, I'm not sure. But eating has always been...an experience. She had basically cleaned her plate, and just need to eat the last two bites of corn. David turned to BG and said excitedly, "After you finish, guess what we're going to do?!" Of course, as any 3 year old would, she immediately got excited, not bothering to hear the explanation. As a special little outing, David's plan was to give her a bath and then take her for ice cream. He's been gone the past two nights, so it was a special outing just for them. Cute, Daddy derived plan. Unfortunately, not pre-approved by Mom. I said they could do ice cream but it needed to be before bath so as not to disrupt the established routine. Upon my interruption, Brynna burst into the most dramatic, fake tears you can imagine, crying "but I wanted ice cream!"

David tried to calm her down to explain that she just needed to eat the corn and they'd go for ice cream. She cried, "I don't want corn instead of ice cream." He explained again that she could have the ice cream - he wanted to get ice cream with her - after she ate the corn. She sniffled a little less and said, "But Mommy said no." David gently told her that I didn't say no; I said they needed to do it in a different order because that's what was best for her. Finally starting to understand, she asked, "So I just need to eat my corn and then we can go get ice cream?"

After eating the corn, Brynna happily ran to put shoes on, and David looked at me with a little smile. He said, "This is how God feels about us. " And he's right. We say, "I don't want the pain; I don't want to do the work," never really seeing the big picture of what else is going on. We cry that He's mean or He's left us before we understand that if we let Him, He's doing things in the order that's best for us. God wants to give us ice cream! He is a doting daddy who just wants to shower His kids with love. So next time you find yourself whining to God (don't pretend; we're all guilty), remember - God wants you to eat your corn not because He thinks it's fun to torture you but because as soon as you're done, He's taking you for ice cream!