Brad Hall: HALL THINGS CONSIDERED: Walk a mile in a baby's shoes
Apr. 10—As the temperatures have gotten a bit warmer over the past couple of months, one of the things Carmen and I have been trying to do is get Jaxson to play and run around outside.
He has always loved being outside, but up until recently, it was a struggle to get him to wear shoes and to put his feet on the grass for some reason.
He would cry and beg to be taken outside, but he'd only run around on the porch in his bare feet or ask to be carried around if we went out into the yard.
But around a month ago, we noticed him wanting to get into one of our cars while we were all outside.
He also loves to go on car rides, so we thought maybe he just wanted to get in his car seat and hit the road. But just to see what happened, we opened the door, and he started asking to get up into the front seat. So we picked him up and put him in the front seat, and he immediately started playing around with his shoes actually on.
My wife and I looked at each other in delight as we realized we might have stumbled on a way to get him to actually wear shoes. So we continued to stand right beside the car and let him play around as long as he wanted to. We figured that the longer he was in his shoes the better.
Then once he got tired of playing in the car, lo and behold, he started to run around the yard in his shoes as well.
Fast forward to now and he still likes to wear shoes and run around outside. He'll even go grab his shoes and bring them to us when he wants to put them on and go play. Of course, he'll often want to go out late at night or when it's cold and rainy, and we have to explain to him it's too dark and cold. But nonetheless, we luckily stumbled upon a way to get him into shoes and to actually enjoy playing in them.
What I've also figured out is babies and toddlers just tend to go at their own pace or develop their necessary skills in different ways.
While it may have taken him a little while to get him into shoes, he did other things ahead of schedule like learning how to walk and learning how to adjust to life without his baby bottles.
No matter his speed, Carmen and I have both been very proud of him and are thankful everyday for having this little blessing in our lives.
As God's children, we have to understand that our development might take similar paths. There may be jobs that God asks us to do that seem simple and easy. But there also might be things we're called to do that seem daunting.
We might really shine in certain areas of sharing the gospel, but maybe come up short in others.
There are going to be skills and attributes that God has blessed us with, and others that maybe we just don't have. What we have to understand is that's all OK. We can't get frustrated and just give up on God and whatever he asks us to do.
What's important is we just listen to the Lord and try our best to do what he asks. It might seem weird, it might seem difficult, and it might even take more time than we think it should. But as long as we keep working toward the goal God has in mind for us, it will make him smile and make him proud.
Galatians 6:9 says, "And let us not be weary in well doing: for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not."
Not everyone is going to go at the same pace and not everyone is going to do anything the exact same way. What matters is that we keep our eyes turned to God and just try our best daily to live according to his will.
