KatieBug got Cheerios today…

My baby girl got Cheerios today. And she taught me something about God. She has been breastfed, and fed baby food by spoon and now we are starting on finger foods. She loves Zweibak toast – although she still hasn’t figured out what to do with the last little piece in her clenched baby fist. We are still trying to figure that one out.

But as I said, today we tried Cheerios. I put a few in a little plate, and put them in front of her. She looked at them, looked at me and then opened and shut her little mouth in excitement, hoping that they would just miraculously materialize in her mouth like most of her other food. After feeding her a few I sat back and waited for her to reach out for them herself. It did not take long.

With a chubby little thumb and index finger she picked one up and put it in the general vicinity of her mouth. She missed and it ended up on the floor. By the time 10 minutes had gone by, there were quite a few on the floor. But more and more were getting into her mouth. And tomorrow when I provide her with a few Cheerios, I bet it won’t take long for her to remember what to do with them.

I suddenly felt nostalgic. My baby girl is beginning to feed herself…next thing she will be driving herself to the store to get her own Cheerios. And it is all my fault. If I kept hand feeding her, and hadn’t let her stare at a plate of Cheerios for a few minutes, feeling hungry, she would not have done what she needed to do to learn to feed herself.

Does God allow us feel a little hungry for a time so that we will learn how to pick up the food He has provided for us? Perhaps, in order to help us grow learn and mature, He allows us to feel empty, dry, thirsty, desperate for some spiritual food so that we will pick up the “food” he has provided with our chubby little hands. There will probably be days when we will miss, food ending up on the floor and not in our mouth as we say “I don’t understand” or “I didn’t get anything out of it today.”

Church provides us with spoon feeding and cooking lessons. We learn truths about Scripture, and also learn how to implement what we have learned. But how do you learn these truths during the week? What do you do if you are hungry for these truths and it is only Tuesday morning?

Do you feel far from God? Dying to hear from Him, and feel His presence – really feel it? Spiritually hungry? Go to the Word. Keep at it. The Lord will not hide his face from you. He will feed your soul. And eventually you will be driving yourself to the store to get a box of Cheerios. But you have to reach for one first.

This was written back in 2005 – Katie Bug is now almost 4 and the big sister to 2 more little girls, Stephanie and Rachael. Rachael – the youngest – will soon have a Cheerios experience of her own in a month or so!

My girls in pink – Stephanie (2), Rachael (6mos) and KatieBug (3 1/2)

Our baby – Rachael

RayRay – my giggly girl…

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