It’s day four of potty training here at the Gissing home. I’ll be honest with you–it’s kicking my butt. After getting up a couple of times to change sheets on one child’s bed, I dragged myself out of bed this morning thinking, “I am so not ready for this day to begin!”
I am learning some spiritual lessons from potty training (from the parent’s perspective):
1. It’s all about control. Think you’re not controlling? Remember that the next time you’re trying everything you know to convince your son that pooping on the potty is okay. I’m just as controlling, if not more, when it comes to dictating to God the future I believe He owes me. Spiritual maturity involves easing off when it comes to control.
2. Impatience is a besetting sin. I really am a profoundly impatient person. I can control it most of the time, but if something takes longer than I deem reasonable then I will get angry about it. This is another expression of the impulse to control and, again, maturity demands an easing off of the need to control.
Have you learned any lessons from a very mundane chore?
Jeff Gissing 