potty training success, fatherly pride, and God

My son woke up dry this morning. He and I made a plan together before bedtime, he stuck to it, and he was successful.

Before bedtime we talked about what went wrong yesterday. We decided that he needed to be woken up twice during the night in order to prevent any accidents. When I finished work, just before midnight, I woke him up and he used the bathroom. Then I woke him up again just around 5:00AM and he used the bathroom again. He woke up this morning dry. I was very proud of him. I knew how difficult it was for him. I hugged him and told him what a big boy he was, and he started to feel pretty proud as well. Knowing that I was proud of him made a real difference.

But if I take a step back, what am I really proud of? He couldn’t have done it without me. I woke him up in the middle of the night. Even if I hadn’t done it, so what? Everyone gets potty trained. It’s normal. It’s abnormal not to get potty trained. It’s something that’s been expected of nearly every person for the last thousand years.

Even so, the sense of pride felt at these moments is genuine. Any father will tell you that to even question these feelings is ridiculous.

And yet, when it comes to God, we question these feelings all the time. We feel that no matter how much effort we put in, we will never achieve greatness. Someone else accomplished in a week what took me 6 months. In my entire life, I will never accomplish what he accomplished by the time he was nineteen.

Even so, a Father’s feelings for his children are genuine. Our Father knows how difficult things are for us, and is proud. Any father will tell you that to even question these feelings is ridiculous.

Sometimes, just knowing that our Father is proud, can make all the difference in the world.

Advertisement