'Gentle' Reminders to Pay Attention
I am grateful for 'gentle' reminders to pay attention.
Okay, so the other night, I was on the phone for a few minutes and like I often do when I am on the phone, I was cleaning up the house while we talked. As I was squatting down to clean up a few toys or whatever, all of a sudden something hit me square in the face with speed and force that brought on some quick and intense pain. Aaron Jr, who was standing not far from me, had thrown something right at me on purpose. It was actually the paper weapon thingy in that photo above. The corner of it hit me right by my eye and it really hurt.
Instead of losing my cool, I simply said, "Aaron, are you kidding?" His simple response was, "I wanted to tell you something." We had to have a talk about the proper ways to get someone's attention. :)
* Side note: Tonight, Aaron saw me cropping that photo of that paper weapon thingy and he said, "Mom, was that the thing I threw at your face last night?" I told him yes. Then he asked, "Why did you take a picture of it?" ~ Pretty funny. *
Anyway, later that same night, Aaron was sitting next to me watching a movie while I was on my laptop. This one makes me laugh so hard. At one point, I gave him a tight squeeze and told him that I love him, then I went about my business on the laptop checking emails and such. Then Aaron snuggled right up to my arm and wrapped his arms around my right arm and layed his head against my arm. A few minutes later, he stood up next to me and stepped gently and carefully onto my lap and placed himself in the tight spot between me and the laptop that was on my lap... he squatted down into my lap and I started to laugh and asked him, "Do you want me to hold you?"
Again, he simply said, "Yes."
So, I put my laptop down and happily held him tightly until he was the one to want to do his own thing.
Those were two experiences that happened within a few hours of each other that made me more aware of my need to pay more attention. I thought that sitting next to each other and watching a movie while working on my laptop wasn't a problem... but it wasn't enough for him. And it shouldn't be enough for me. He deserves more.
One more... earlier tonight, Aaron was sitting next to me again watching a show and he kept fake sneezing. Each time, he would spray spit drops and I tried to tolerate it. After about the tenth time, I finally asked him to stop and he said, "Say Bless You." I didn't know that was what he was waiting for. I always say 'Bless You' when someone sneezes, so I guess he just expected to hear it even if it was a fake sneeze. Once I laughed and told him 'Bless You', he stopped 'sneezing'. This little boy makes me laugh so much.
Because I like to try to tie life experiences into life lessons... I wanted to compare this to the gentle ways that the Spirit tries to speak to us. We have to be paying attention in order to feel or hear the Spirit. The three ways that Aaron Jr tried to get my attention were way more blatant than the way the Spirit usually tries to get our attention. We have to be paying attention. I found this neat quote tonight on the subject:
"The Spirit does not get our attention by shouting. Occasionally, the Spirit will press just firmly enough or often enough for us to pay attention; but from my experience, most of the time, if we do not heed the gentle feeling, if we do not listen with those feelings, the Spirit will withdraw and wait until we come seeking and listening, in our manner and our expression."
~ Boyd K. Packer
So, tonight, I am grateful for the 'gentle' reminders to pay attention. They definitely give me a wake up call sometimes. I hope I can start to pay closer attention to the needs of Aaron Jr before he has to throw stuff at my face or put his 50 something pound 4 foot tall self on my lap or spit on me.
I would never want to miss out on those moments and have him withdraw from me and wait until I come to him... like it said in that quote about the Spirit. I hope the same thing about the Spirit. I hope to live so that the Spirit never withdraws from me.
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