Life Lessons from a Preschooler

Even though I don’t share on my blog about my nieces and nephews, I am obsessed. If you follow me on instagram you might know that by now and actually, obsessed might be an understatement. I just love them so much and think they are just the cutest and best people alive. One of my brothers has 4 children, another has 3 children (one in heaven) and my sister-in-law, Colby’s sister, has 5 children, so we have a lot of little people to love.

The closest we live to any of our family is 3 hours so it makes it super hard. But, I was so excited because a week or two ago my niece was in town and we had the best time together, or at least I did. It was about time for me to leave (we were at my parents house who also live in the area) and just a little bit before heading out, I accidentally scratched her with my nail. I felt so bad when it happened as she started bleeding. As any little girl would, she of course needed a band-aid for her boo-boo.

It was clear that she was hurting as there were a few tears involved. Nothing dramatic, but like any little girl would be she was upset. In the moment, she wasn’t interested in giving me a hug or saying bye. Why? Because she was focused on her boo-boo and the pain that she was experiencing.

And then God spoke to me. “Caroline, how often are so focused on your boo-boo’s that you miss all the blessings around you?”

You see, by this point, I had already had a dance party with her, baked cookies with her, went swimming with her and went on a walk with her. I would do anything for her, because I love her so. But, she allowed her pain to blind side all the fun we had together. She was in too much pain to even care about the blessings of the day.

Hear me out, she reacted as any 4-year-old would. Which by the way, I thought a 4-year-old was a toddler until I googled it for this post. Apparently she is a “preschooler.” Who knew? Anyway, I have nothing but love for her, so this isn’t to point out something she did wrong, because she is 4 and she could never do anything wrong (although my brother and sister-in-law might say otherwise, ha). Instead I wanted to use the situation as an analogy because God used her boo-boo to teach me some life lessons.

Do you realize that God has blessed us with“every spiritual blessing”, just as it says in Ephesians 1:3? But how often do I, and do you, get so caught up in the pain that you forget all the other blessings?

I might be the only one who is convicted by what the Lord spoke to me all because of a boo-boo. But, I want to encourage you today. Perhaps you are going through infertility and you have been so focused on what you don’t yet have, that you have lost sight of your blessings. Perhaps you are waiting on a husband and have been so focused on the desire to get married that you have lost sight of your blessings. Perhaps you too, have a boo-boo, and are experiencing physical pain, which has caused you to lose sight of all of your blessings. Insert whatever situation it is here, because we all have things that cause us to lose sight of all the blessings that are in front of us.

Jobs. Homes. Food. Friends. Community. We all take these things for granted. Whether it’s a day of swimming in the pool, going on walks or making cookies or a day spent in an office, doing laundry or teaching a class, do you realize that you are blessed? God has given you every spiritual blessing and although there might be in pain today, he doesn’t want you to lose sight of him or what he has blessed you with.

Don’t choose to turn away from God, because yes, it is a choice. You might have tears. You might have been hurt. You might be in pain. But if you take just a minute to look around, you will realize how truly blessed you are. So blessed, so loved, so sought after that God might even use a preschooler to teach you a life lesson about it.

PS. Have you picked up a copy of my book? Buy In Due Time, a 60-day devotional for hope + encouragement in the waiting.