All the Rules

As I wipe down the table from lunch, two boys peacefully down for naps, and one little girl in the bathroom washing her hands, I hear the words of a little girl's honest, private prayer.

"God" she says, and she doesn't know I hear her as well.
"God - I know you love me very very much.  And you love me even when I disobey.  But the rules are so hard.  Can you please make the rules easier?"

My heart squeezes and I smile as I hear this honest prayer from a little three year old that struggles to obey.  I hear her heart and how much she longs to and so often I see her flesh rise against that desire in her heart and she struggles. 


And I am thankful.
I am so thankful that she struggles.
I am overwhelmed with gratitude that at the tender age of 3 she has learned the lesson we all must understand.  That we will never follow all the rules.  That we will always come up short.  Isn't that what Romans says?  "All have sinned and fall short..."  All.   The 'rules' as she calls them are not there so that we can follow each one and check each box and fall in line.  They are there to show us that we can't.  That we lack.  That we need.

Grace.  A Redeemer.  A Savior.

The only One who ever could follow all the "rules" - and who died to fill the gap of what we lack and bring us to the One we need.  So we could have relationship.  Life to the Full.

And I am so thankful that she can not follow all our rules.  That she struggles.  That she rebels and makes mistakes and in turn sees us make mistakes.  How else would she understand?  How else would she see her need?  How else would she understand this Easter and the cross and the resurrection? 

A mother's heart is filled with joy at a little girl who knows she needs Jesus.