“Please take off your pajamas and put on your underwear.” I told my daughter, as I tried to finish getting ready before running to a MOPS Steering Team meeting.

“I don’t know how to put on my shirt,” she said, already on the edge of tears. I tried to calm the irritation in my voice.

“I know that you have trouble with your shirt. I didn’t ask you to do that. I just asked that you would get undressed and put on clean underwear.”  In that every day mundane request I heard God speak to me. How often does he ask me to do something small, simple even, and I cut him off; insisting that I can’t do a larger and more difficult task? How many times does he quietly and gently remind me that he has only asked me to take the first step, not move the mountain in one fell swoop? He knows that I can do and he will give me strength and direction I need for each task.

Ten minutes later after I had gotten myself and my baby son ready for the day, I found her still sitting on the floor of her room, having done nothing. My first reaction was anger. I had asked her to do something so simple. Couldn’t she handle even the most basic instruction? Again I felt convicted. There are so many times I feel God directing me, giving me a task to accomplish and I ignore his instruction or complain that I can’t do it without even trying. I was not as gracious toward my daughter as I should have been. But I recognized how much grace he extends to me; gently reminding, redirecting and lifting me up so that I can withstand all the challenges of life. Now more than ever I must pray for strength as I try to prepare my daughter to face the world and attune her own heart to listen to God’s promptings.