Monday, February 4, 2008

Irrational Fears

Phoebe has been a pretty easygoing child. In fact, she's turning out to be very different from what I thought she would be, which was basically MiniMe. Before she was born, I was certain Phoebe would be intense, still, thoughtful, quiet, and cuddly. I don't think I could have been more wrong.

If ever there was a laid back, sociable, active, funny, free-spirited child... that's my girl. The child has certainly destroyed my expectations of her, and I love it -- wouldn't have it any other way.

One thing I expected was that Phoebe would be afraid of things. Barking dogs, storms, and other people, for example. Now, I realize that all of these fears may come later, but right now, these things just don't phase her. Like I said. She's very laid back.

Her one major fear right now totally caught me by surprise.

See, we were making pizza one Friday night last month. And I thought that our little explorer would have a great time playing with the flour. (Not so much.) And then, while Michael was rolling out the dough, I thought, "Hey... maybe she'd like to help pat the dough!" So Michael scooped her up, brought her to the counter, and put her little hand on the sticky, cold, mass of dough.

She recoiled a bit. So we returned her to the floor where she was playing.


A few minutes later, we tried to bring the dough down to her level, just so she could experience it. The sweet little thing crawled away in terror. Of course we didn't get it. So we tried again. Screams and more crawling away followed. Bless her heart! Further attempts a few weeks later confirmed that she is still deathly afraid of pizza dough.

I'm still a little bit amazed that she would be afraid of something as harmless as pizza dough, but not at all afraid of our 75 pound dog's tongue. But then, I think about some of the things I fear. (I'll spare you the list here, but let's just say that having a child takes your fears and quadruples them.) And our Heavenly Father looks at us lovingly, saying, "Do not fear, for I am with you; do not anxiously look about you for I am your God." (Isaiah 41:10) Our fears of flying or needles or untimely death of a spouse or ____________ are all unfounded. The God of the Universe is with us! Praise Him!

I'm just like Phoebe, about 99 percent of the time. I'm fearful and cry out the second something makes me nervous. But I'm thankful for those reminders in scripture, just like we remind our sweet little girl, that we have nothing to be afraid of. He is with us.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

I'm racking my brain trying to figure out why pizza dough would frighten her. Sooooo funny

Thanks for posting those songs on your blog. I had to grade for 2.5 hours after school today so went to your blog on my class computer and cranked it up. It really helped me get through and I loved rediscovering some of my old faves (Nickel Creek!)

Anonymous said...

Oh, my darling daughter, how I am amazed at your being a Mother, with such sweet insight of truth...how blessed is your little one...how blessed am I.