Keep looking up!

Our son, Colton, loves bathtime.  As soon as I mention the word "tubby", he goes racing to the bathroom door.  Once inside, he cannot strip his clothes off fast enough.  It's one of his (and my) favorite times of the day.  We laugh, play, and talk.  Only I cannot understand this foreign language that Colton speaks in the bathtub sometimes.  It sounds like an Ewok.

But as happy as he looks/sounds in that clip, what you have to realize is that we haven't gotten to the hair washing part of the bathtime routine, given that his hair is still dry.  Colton despises hair washing time.  I use gentle shampoo and take the greatest pains to ensure that no water/soap get in his eyes, but he thrashes around violently and screams when his hair is getting washed, so soap inevitably ends up in his eyes.  Life is rough.

Yes, I've heard about those fancy visor things that can prevent kids from getting water in their eyes, but I flatly refuse to pay money for something like that.  So I have had to come up with a plan for him to be able to cope with this "horrible" situation in his life. Lately I've been training him to "look up!" whenever the time comes for us to wet or rinse his hair.  "COLTON!  Look up!  Keep looking up!  Honey, don't look down.  Look UP!  Look up at the ceiling!  NO!  When you look down, you get water in your face.  Baby boy, look UP!"

As you can tell by the conversation, this is a constant reminder that he needs.  Sometimes he follows my instruction clearly and he stares at the ceiling the entire time I rinse his shampoo out.  However, more times than not, he screams and drops his chin to his chest, causing the hated shampoo to flood his eyes and make his situation even worse.  It's quite a battle.  I get really wet sometimes.

And it would just be so much easier, so much less of a hassle, if he would stay focused on my instruction.  But the moment that he questions me, his loving mother, who wouldn't ever harm him or mislead him, he breaks my command and he begins to suffer.

Are you catching my drift?  I'm sure you see by now where I'm going with this.

In Psalm 105, we are exhorted (verse 4) to Look to the Lord and His strength; seek His face always.  Always does not mean that we are to praise God and follow Him only when it's convenient or easy for us, but to train ourselves to keep seeking His will even when he is leading us through the most harrowing of situations, whether it be the risk of getting shampoo in our eyes, or having the most excruciatingly painful, long, dark period of our lives.  Following the Lord's instruction in our lives is not always easy, but I can tell you that this last week, God has asked me to do some pretty humbling, difficult things. I have had to trust as I've gone out on this limb, that He would not allow me to get soap in my eyes. It has been a total blessing to do what He's asked of me.  I have been so privileged to see Him working not only in my own life, but the lives of people around me. It has given me such joy and such peace to trust, trust my God.

Once my son finally begins to trust me that I have his best interests at heart, he will begin to experience a peace about hair washing that he never thought possible.  He'll be such a happy, clean little boy.

And maybe I'll get through bathtime without having to change my shirt afterwards.

Keep looking up.  Our God's strength is unlimited, His will is perfect, and His instruction is infallible.