Mercy

God's mercy is an amazing thing. Perhaps one of the most amazing aspects of His mercy is that He puts up with stuff for a long time. I mean, a really long time. An exorbitant amount of time. To the point that when you finally get it, it's embarrassing that God let you go for so long. I mean, really, sometimes He should give me what I deserve. Here's what I mean. Eli hasn't done a whole lot of moving, and I always quickly attribute it to his laziness. The fact is, he is a very active baby, nearly impossible to hold. He loves to flip out of your arms without any warning whatsoever. He is never still. The lazy ones are his parents. For months now, at least 4, Eli has been able to sit up. When Eli sits up, his head has been higher than the railing on his crib. A big, big no-no. For months now, his daddy and I have said "We really need to lower that rail. He is going to flip right out of there." And for months now, the mattress has stayed at its highest setting. See? Lazy.

Yesterday, after a couple of months of my complaining that Eli hasn't yet pulled up in his crib, it hit me. God has protected Eli from my negligence for a loooong time. God has given grace to Eli, but to me He has given great measures of mercy. I deserved to have my baby flipped out of the crib onto the floor. I really did, yet God protected Him. Still even after this realization, I didn't truly get the magnitude of the situation. I knew what I needed to do, but I still decided to put it off until the weekend. Well, God decided no more... well, maybe a little more.. but it became very clear that is was time for me to stop being lazy and get to work. During his "nap" today Eli pulled up in his crib and was hanging his top half over the side, yelling and grinning his big hippo grin. The time had come. I had to pull out the toolbox.

Eli is asleep right now as low as the mattress will go. Praise God that He doesn't give up on His children easily. Praise God that He protects my children from my many parenting gaffes. Praise God I'm not Britney Spears. Its times like these I actually feel sorry for the girl.