Deep Thoughts on Pacifiers

In repentance and rest you will be saved,
In quietness and trust is your strength...
Isaiah 31:15

Well, this was the week for Erin to be "depappy-ed". "Pappy" is, of course, the affectionate term for pacifier at our house. Erin has had her pappy for sleeping purposes only for the past two years, but now that she's 2-1/2, we decided it was time to go cold turkey. (We knew she was ready when she told us, "That's not a pappy, that's a pac-i-fi-er.") Basically, this means teaching her how to lie still enough to fall asleep and involves lots of my time (and patience) at bedtime and naptime. (This is why I haven't blogged for more than a week.) We're one week into it, and we are making progress.

All week as I've been watching Erin struggle through this, it's brought to mind Psalm 131:2, "Surely I have composed and quieted my soul. Like a weaned child rests against his mother, my soul is like a weaned child within me." What a great word picture! How Erin has fussed and fretted for what she wants and thinks she needs...and what a great thing it will be when she can lie down and fall asleep peacefully with no assistance. This is what God wants for my soul, too; to have no affection or desire for anything more than for Himself and to be able to trust Him enough that in every circumstance I can say, "You are good and what you do is good..." (Psalm 119:68). In Life As A Vapor John Piper writes, "Our trials reveal the measure of our affection for this earth-both its good things and bad things. Our troubles expose our latent idolatry." This is a sobering thought to me, as it is so easy for me to feel "troubled" over my incomplete kitchen...or what others think of me...or any other little circumstance in my day that doesn't go as I had hoped. Boy, do those idols ever reveal how much I need a Savior! No wonder the verse from Isaiah puts repentance before rest! And the really wonderful thing is that the more I know of God and how much greater He is than any of those idols, the more I trust.

It's true that our children are some of our greatest teachers...yet another reason to thank the Lord for them!