Lessons From A Two-Year-Old

I spent the morning with a young mom and her two daughters.
It was a windy, fall day.
I mulled some hot apple cider.
I baked some fresh granola.

I sent the mom a text and told her that I would have a garage door open for her.
Her youngest daughter is only two months old.
Her other daughter will be two in a little over a month.
I did not want her to carry her baby all the way from the driveway to the front door.

Not many people come through my laundry room.
I used to have a sign that said, Back Door Friends Are Best.
I think there should be a sign about laundry room friends as well.
It is hard to know how a little two-year-old will react to new surroundings.

I got down to her level and looked right into her eyes.
I am so glad you came to see me today! I said excitedly.
I have some special toys out for you! I continued.
I reached out my hand to take hold of her little hand.

She could have refused.
She could have clung to her mother’s knees.
She did neither.
She took my hand as I led her inside.

We walked through the kitchen and into the family room.
I had a doll house, mini van, and the family that came with it all set up on the floor.
There were pieces of furniture to put in the rooms as well.
This doll house is perfect for little hands; everything is bigger and quite safe.

I had that same doll house when I was little, the young mom said.
The little two-year-old was happy with the dollhouse.
She liked the other things that were in the toy chest.
I put the toys near my large farm table so she could see her mom the entire time.

I looked at this sweet mom and saw myself many years ago.
As she held her baby, she answered questions from her two-year-old.
She balanced her attention well between her two little girls.
She was still able to talk to me as we sat and drank our mulled cider.

It is a privilege to spend time with young moms in my home.
I love to hear how they met their husbands.
I love to hear about their pregnancies and the birth of their children.
Since many of these young mom go to my church, we talk about the Lord as well.

The sweet little two-year-old, heard us say the word, Bible.
Bible? Bible? She asked in her little two-year-old voice.
Her mom told me how much she loves her Bible.
She and her husband read the Bible to their little girl every night.

I remembered that I had a toddler Bible on a shelf upstairs.
I told the precious little one that I was going to get her a Bible.
She went into the foyer as I walked upstairs.
She was so excited.

When I came downstairs, I handed her the toddler Bible that belonged to my youngest daughter
Bible, she said in her sweet little voice.
Even though my toddler Bible did not look like her toddler bible, she still knew.
She still knew that this book was different from any other.

After she looked at the toddler Bible for a while, she found the marble roller in my kitchen.
The old marble roller than a Mennonite man made for me sits on a low windowsill.
She carefully took one marble and put it back.
Her mom and I watched her as we talked.

I could have gotten up and showed her how the marble roller worked.
However, I wanted her to discover it on her own.
She is not tall enough to place the marble at the top and let it roll down all four levels.
She was only able to put her one marble on the lowest row and allow it to fall just a bit.

That was enough to amuse her.
She was perfectly content with the small incline.
She was perfectly satisfied with one marble.
She was quite pleased with herself as she made the marble roll.

It was time to go.
This sweet little two-year-old listens well.
We need to go home, her mother told her.
One more, all done, the little girl said to her mommy.

OK. One more, all done, her mother answered.
The little girl took one marble and carefully allowed it to go down the small incline.
She looked at her mom in delight.
One more, all done, the little girl said again.

What shall we say, then? Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase? By no means! We died to sin; how can we live in it any longer? (Romans 6:1,2)

The mom allowed only one more, all done to take place.
She gently but authoritatively took her little girl’s hand and told her that they were leaving.
There were no tears.
The sweet little two-year-old walked out through the laundry room the way she came in.

I thought of each of us when we sin.
Everyone sins but that sin looks different for each one of us.
Through His Word, God the Father tells us that is enough.
We persist; we want to do what we want to do.

One more, all done we say without the sweetness I witnessed today.
We do not want to be told, No.
We want to continue in our behavior no matter what God says.
Only one more, then I’m done, we tell ourselves.

However, sin takes hold of us.
We think we can out maneuver sin but we cannot.
Not in our own strength.
We need God’s help to break free from the sin that binds us.

As I watched the young mom, I realized this is what God does.
God’s hand is there, guiding us away from what we want to do just one more time.
We often continue doing what we want rather than take His hand.
We go deeper and deeper into the sin that so easily entangles.

One more, all done, we say believing that to be true.
It is never just one more, all done without God’s help.
We are too weak to walk away from sin on our own.
Sin will master us simply because we naively think we can control it.

One more, all done, we say.
God says, No!
In that, No, there is freedom.
We reach out to take His Hand as He leads us Home.