Everything and Anything relates to babies for me right now. Well, its to be expected, I have a 2 month old son and a toddler and getting my baby to feed and sleep means I have time to feed and play with my daughter, who needs a lot of stimulation and learning to get through the day.
I was thinking about this as I tried to put my son on the same routine that my daughter had from birth. We had a rocky start with frequent colds, antibiotics and regurgitation requiring drugs - when all this seemed sorted we still had a little guy who cried a lot and would not sleep in the evenings. I told myself I needed to follow the said routine more rigorously, I stuck more closely to the recommended times, I bought some of the paraphernalia available at the online store, I subscribed ( at cost) to the forum. I worked HARD to control the variables and follow the advice.
After a few weeks of this, we still had an unsettled little guy who was not smiling a lot, crying a lot and falling asleep well before the books said he was supposed to and not falling asleep at the magic 7pm.
Then he stopped taking his one good nap of the day that he usually took after screaming his way through the first nap and needing to be walked, held or jiggled to sleep in the front pack the rest of the time.
Something broke and I felt the Lord saying I needed to design a day for him that would work, rather than following the owner's manual. The manual was obviously written for some other baby, not mine!
I resisted and bucked the changes, I didn't want to accept that I had to start ALL over again, but something needed to change. After 5 days of trial and error and tears I figured out my little guy needs a LOT of sleep, even when he seems happy, he needs to be taken away from the excitement of the kitchen where we all talk together and from the brightly coloured clothes hanging to dry. He needs wrapping and a cuddle and a pat and to be put in bed to sleep. Right now, 45 minutes after rising from bed, he falls asleep without a cry, maybe a little coo - and sleeps longer than he used to. My daughter longs to play with him, but I need to guard his sleep on the days I can, to prepare him for the busy days out.
Be wary of the one size fits all solution.
Likewise, Christians can't follow a 10 step plan to sanctification - we are all justified by the same sacrifice, the perfect lamb of God - Jesus Christ, takes our sin. But he has a different path for us all. He calls us to obey the One God - but calls some of us to motherhood, some to singleness, some to great sacrifice, some to a life of relative comfort, some to depression and sorrow and some to great joy interspersed with trouble. Some even to persecution.
English Standard Version (©2001)
Jesus said to him, “If it is my will that he remain until I come, what is that to you? You follow me!”
I need to stop looking sideways at other Christians who have organised their homes and have people over for dinner every night - there is a season for all things and I will show hospitality more in time, right now is the time for putting my house in order.
