No Planning Required

Rewind several months and you would have seen me at nine months pregnant attempting to potty train Kaylen. It was a complete flop. I couldn't move fast enough and Kaylen just didn't care. Gratefully, I put it off for a while. Lately I've been thinking that Kaylen was ready and now at four months of age, Marlee is getting old enough that she doesn't need me quite so frequently as before. Certainly I can move faster now that the huge belly is gone. So, I marked my calendar.


Monday I began the grueling process that is potty training. We said bye-bye to diapers, put on the teeny tiny undies and I began the mantra "tell mommy if you need to go potty" and "Don't get Minnie wet" and "do you need to go potty?" that I repeated over and over again all day long. Even I was tired of hearing it by the time she went to bed. We had some success and she managed to make some headway. Still, at the end of day one I was worn slap out. Staring at your child all day long [while still feeding and caring for a four month old baby and a 3.5 year old]  and running her to the potty ten million times is exhausting work.

Tuesday I prayed and prayed for the day ahead. Please let this be a good day, please let Kaylen get it. The morning went really well. Very well. So well that I thought that she had it. That the Three Day Method that I used on Jacob worked on Kaylen too. But then came nap time.

She woke up soaked from nap time and it was downhill from there. I mopped up puddle after puddle. Apparently the morning's success was nothing but a false positive. Frustrated and discouraged, I went to bed and...cried.

Wednesday dawned and again I prayed for success. This was the day, we would get it done and I would no longer have two in diapers. But I was wrong. We didn't get it done and we do still have two in diapers. The morning was like days one and two had never happened. I was exhausted, frustrated and getting nowhere. And running out of paper towels. I concluded that Kaylen's brain and body were still getting mixed signals and that she just wasn't quite ready for this step away from babyhood. I had a little cry, I called my mom [what would we do without our moms] and felt I was making the right decision in pulling the plug.

It felt good getting out of potty training exile. So good that I put a diaper on Kaylen, packed a picnic and we all went to the park.

I think my approach was all wrong. I tried to manipulate the situation using basically my busy little calendar and my dread of two year old #2 diapers as cues that Kaylen was ready for this next step in growing up. I set the stage, I created opportunities for her to practice, I prodded and praised and you know what? I had the signals all wrong and my entire project went down the toilet. Well, that would have been ideal, what really happened is that it went all over the floor. Again.

How many times do we decide we are ready for something, or need something and we try to arrange things so that it works out how we want it, when we aren't ready or we don't need it and the whole thing backfires big time? I'm afraid I am guilty as charged. We make plans without stopping to consider what the Lord might have for us, or what He might want for us, or even what He might be calling us to do. Instead of forging ahead, just wait on the Lord.

Even the phrase "wait on the Lord" is so soothing and restful. No planning required. No arranging needed. No staring at a stubborn two year old who's brain and bottom are on two different radio signals.

Wait on the Lord. Let it unfold like a bolt of cloth- richly colored, beautifully detailed, finely crafted and lovely. His timing is impeccable, His plans perfect. It's not easy to wait in this fast food, drive-thru world we live in, but when the arrangements are made by the same One who mapped out the sun and stars, who planned and pruned an amazing creation, who formed life so exquisitely, I'd say He knows what He's doing, and it will be worth the wait.

Psalm 27:14

Wait patiently for the LORD. Be brave and courageous. Yes, wait patiently for the LORD.