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My awesome daughter, Gemma, is eight months old.  She is absolutely the greatest part of our lives and my wife and I find something new to laugh at as she makes fresh discoveries everyday.  ”What can I put in my mouth?  Can I move my hands like that?  Is that the dog making funny sounds?  What else can I put in my mouth?”  Lately, G has been pulling up on the furniture to stand up, mostly to grab for the forbidden remote control or iPhone or something else too valuable to get baby slobbered, which are apparently the vary things that attract said baby slobber.  Nonetheless, this latest discovery has been interesting to watch.  She puts so much effort into accomplishing her goal and it makes me wonder what is going on in her head.  I imagine it goes something like this: forbidden object spotted, army crawl to the couch, figure out how to get from my stomach to my knees, reach up as hiiiiiigh as I can and grab on tightly to as much material as I can, pull with all my strength and try to avoid the head bust if I slip, now that I’m semi-up work my feet to where they are underneath me, whew… now to that remote!

A couple of thoughts about this whole process of watching my daughter learn to stand and walk make the wheels in my head rotate a little faster.  Firstly, it is ironic how she always wants the things she cannot have.  If I put one of her toys, decked out in all sorts of colors, shapes, noise-making devices, and all other supposed baby-attracting bells and whistles, up on the couch, she will look at it with half a glance and then look for something else that is more interesting and usually, more forbidden.  Why does she work so hard to pick up something that she knows she will get in trouble for grabbing, chewing, consuming, or playing with, especially when her dad has given her a toy that was made for her to play with and enjoy in all its fullness?  Secondly, I do not expect her to walk on the first attempt at a step.  I have no doubt that soon she will be hauling on all two’s going ninety-to-nothing, but I know that it will happen with many falls, scraps, bruises, and scars to vouch for her accomplishment, and I will be proud of every single attempt that she makes.  The craziest part is this makes scary sense to most of us.  Do we not go after things we know our Father has forbidden us to chase with laborious effort and a crooked smile? Do we not skip over the great blessings and gifts that He gives us only to run to things that feed our sinful nature and lead us into destruction?  At the same time, the Father loves our every attempt at the next step, whatever that step may be.  We will undoubtedly stumble and fall and sometimes we might get scrapped up or even scarred, but with each fallen attempt we are one step closer to getting it right.  But also undoubtedly, our Father is proud of every single step.  He is good. He is loving.  And He calls us His own.  He looks on us as proud parent looking upon his child learning to walk, looking past the falls and bruises to the end result.  His love overcomes us, overwhelms us, and sustains us.  Let us chase after the good things our Father puts in front of us, learning to walk in His ways and in His truths, overcoming the failed attempts by getting back up and taking another step, eventually to run towards Him with all of our effort going ninety-to-nothing.