eat it! it is good for you!

it seems that God is using my baby boy to teach me a lot of "new life" lessons these days. i have recently been experiencing many insights into my own continual behavior and God's continual love for me from caring for him. so here is today's lesson. jacob had just woke up from his nap and i sat him in his high chair so he could eat lunch. i cut up some green beans and fruit for him to eat and placed them on his tray. he took a couple of bites and began to throw his food on the floor, giving the dogs their second meal for the day. he really likes meat, cheese, and buttered bread. i know that but i try to give him fruit and vegetables first, when he is the hungriest, so that maybe he might try it and like it. as he began to throw his food on the floor, i told him, "jacob don't throw that food on the floor. it is yummy. it is good for you. eat it." i tried to pick up a few pieces and put it in his mouth for him, but he would not even try it anymore. he kept reaching his hand over toward the refrigerator where he knew i kept the diced up meat and cheese that he gets at meal times.

in order for jacob to be as healthy as he can be, he needs to learn to like fruits and vegetables. so, i am not going to quit giving them to him just because he keeps throwing them on the floor and prefers other things. i love him and i want him to be healthy. he is not capable of deciding for himself what he should and should not eat. its not that meat and cheese and bread are bad but they can not be all he eats, along with his bottle of milk, of course. and so, my dilema continues.

then later on in the day, i caught jacob climbing on top of dodger, our dog, and i noticed that he looked as if he had something in his mouth. i went over to him to look in his mouth to see what he was chewing on. carefully sweeping my finger in his mouth, i pulled out a slimy, crumpled, green seed of some sort. i wondered where he could have gotten something like that in his mouth. then, i looked down at dodger to see that he had many of these same seed-type green things matted in his hair from rolling around on the ground earlier that day. i wondered to myself why would he want to put something in his mouth that he had to pull out of dodger's fur but he wouldn't eat the vegetables that i had tried to get him to eat earlier. he spits out and throws what is good for him on the floor and attempts to eat a dirty, hairy weed just because it is interesting and small enough for him to grip with his little fingers.

then, once again, i see myself in my son's situation with God. i have found myself spitting out what God's word is telling me, that which is good for me. i sense God chuckle as i hear his voice say, "eat it! it is good for you!" and yet, i too, get caught feeding on the dirty lies that the enemy is putting before me, making them look interesting and easy enough for me to grasp myself. help me Lord to trust that You know what is best for me and that as i consume Your Word, and not spit it out or throw it out, i will grow strong and healthy, so that i will be able to recognize the grossness of the lies that the enemy teases me with and not desire to put them in my heart or in my mouth.