Whining

As I'm getting out of the shower, I hear Peanut whining in frustration and saying (in that whiny sing-song voice only a little kid can achieve) "I can't get it open!" I hear this and the accompanying whining over and over as I dry off and start to get dressed. She realizes I'm out of the shower and comes to me, still whining about not being able to get this little plastic purse open. Then, she stops whining and shows it to me to indicate she can't get it open and right then, it opens. And she says, "Oh, it opened."

So I tell her, "Well, you were whining so much you couldn't concentrate on actually accomplishing what you were trying to do." Of course she shrugs and goes on her merry way with a purse she can now stuff full of treasures (crayons, magnets, little scraps of paper). Meanwhile, I'm standing there with wet hair dripping onto my shirt and water sloshing in my ears being hit with the full impact of what I just said.

You see, I belong to the LDS church and we believe that God is literally our Father. The Father of our spirits. I didn't grow up in the church or as part of any church and I never really put much thought into who God was. When I was looking for something spiritual in my life, hearing this concept made automatic sense to me. I believe so strongly in this concept that I can see the parallel of God's relationship to me and my relationship with my kids. So very often when I tell them something (usually some great words of wisdom I'm proud of sharing) I will hear it echoed back to myself like my Father is whispering it to me too.

"Well, you were whining so much you couldn't concentrate on actually accomplishing what you were trying to do." I immediately thought of so many good tasks I set out to do but when the going got rough I began to whine rather than see the task to the end. You know, those silly things in life...food storage, exercise, learning skills...I have wonderful intentions but I have a bad habit of expecting things to work out nicely. And really, how often do things in life work out nicely? Sometimes I think I want to put in a 25-30% effort and have the Lord fill in the rest. What I forget is that because I am mortal, I can never do enough and the Lord will always have to help. But first he expects MY 100% effort, then He'll step in.

I should always seek the Lord's will through prayer, scripture study and pondering. But then, I should be throwing myself into a task with a 100% effort. I don't think I do that a lot of times now. I throw myself into it but usually at the first obstacle, I fall over and play dead. Then the whining begins, "I can't do this. It's too hard."

I don't mind it when my 6 year old needs my help with something and she comes to ask for help. But it really irritates me when she spends more energy whining and bemoaning than actually trying to do the thing she wants done. Especially something I know is within her power to do. Don't we often find ourselves as parents saying, "Come on, you can do it. I know you can." But they don't trust you, they don't think they can do it so rather than trying......they whine.

Thank you Father for yet another lesson learned through the blessing of parenting. I don't know how much it will sink in but I will be pondering this for awhile and trying to not whine so much. I will try to trust You and know that You know what I can accomplish, so much more than I do.