I have serious potty-training anxiety. I’ve successfully trained two other humans, I should be confident. You’d think in the middle of a pandemic, in unprecedented global devastation, teaching Emory to use the potty wouldn’t be such a big deal. Never underestimate a professional worrier.
Potty training for me is like childbirth. The first few accidents aren’t a big deal. A little deep breathing, and encouragement from my husband calms me down. Then the hours pass, the dirty laundry grows. The accidents get closer together and more painful. My nerves unravel faster than my precious supply of toilet paper she insists on using every time even when nothing happens! 13 false alarms for me to end up on my hands and knees cleaning the rug for the millionth time! We change positions, change potty chairs, change rewards. Nothing works. No one is comfortable. Everyone starts crying. I give my husband a look that says, “You did this to me!” He tries to help, but she doesn’t want daddy — she wants mommy! Deep breathing does exactly nothing now. Every word I’ve ever spoken about “being strong in tough times” mocks me. I just want pain meds. I bargain with God to get me through this pee-covered day.
Then it happens. She tells me she needs to go. We run to the potty. Then she actually goes! The end result is definitely not as beautiful as the baby, but the cheers may have been just as loud.
The holy spirit does a sanctifying work on me through potty training my children. Every time. Apparently there are some lessons hours of study will never teach me, lessons I can only learn in the floor scrubbing pee out of the carpet. In such disinfecting moments, God has been so sweet to give me five reminders of Himself.
- He is glorified in my obedience, especially in the mundane. I do the work he’s given me in that moment. I’m to work like I’m working for the son of God himself. He gives patience. He gives kindness. He gives gentleness. He gives that get-up-and-do-it-all-over-again-ness. He does not delight in sacrifice but in obedience. He is glorified in those tiny moments of serving our own families.
. - I’m so thankful for the men and women God sent to train me in the faith. In 1 Thessalonians 2:7-8, Paul tells the church, “we were gentle among you, like a nursing mother taking care of her own children….we were ready to share with you not only the gospel of God but also our own selves, because you had become very dear to us.” I think of my own godly mom and dad who trained me in the Lord night and day. I think of the teachers who modeled prayer and Bible study for me. I think of friends who gently lifted me to love Christ more. And I think of the women who modeled motherhood for me. I’m thankful these people shared their lives with me even when it was inconvenient. They trained me faithfully and patiently in the Lord.
. - Only God can grow my children. Potty training is another reminder of how utterly dependent I am on God when it comes to my children. I can set the right environment, read all the books, try to live an authentic example before them, but only God can grow them in his own timing. He often grow them in spite of me. I can’t even manufacture success with something as small as potty training. How much more do I need the Lord to save their souls and grow them? He is the one I will continue to cry out to for my kids.
. - I love my husband. David and I planned a “quarantine date night” before I went into potty training labor. After a day covered in my two tear old’s accidents, the last thing I felt like was a patio date, but it was the exact thing I needed. David got me flowers and grilled us steaks. I got to end the day as a wife to an amazing man and father. God’s lavish grace on me.
. - Potty training is holy work. I came across a journal entry from when I potty-trained Josiah in Thailand. David had gone to India with a group of pastors, our local team was in the slums ministering to the poor, and I was locked in our apartment trying to train my toddler son. I remember feeling so utterly useless to the kingdom of God. Seriously God, you called me to be a missionary so I could do this? I’ve since seen what God had for me in those days, and I’m so thankful! Mission work is obedience the Lord. Nothing more glamorous, nothing less. It’s receiving what he has for me each moment and the grace that comes with it. Obedient work done unto him is holy. No matter what continent or calling.
What ordinary tasks has the Lord assigned to you? He will meet you in that place. In obedience he will bring understanding of the scriptures, insight into himself, endurance. Press into the tough things. You are unimaginably valuable to the one who made you. He knows the number of your hairs. You, sheep, pass under the hand of the one who counts you. Whatever work awaits us in the rest of this lockdown and afterwards, let’s find Christ in it, and do it with all of our hearts.