So Cole has developed this new obsession.......Elmo. At almost 17 months old, our child gets a humongous smile across his face, his eyes light up and he shrieks at the top of his lungs, "Eh-mo!" I may take this comment back a few months from now, but this is one of the cutest things. His cousin Leto was over to our house yesterday and when his mom changed his diaper, Cole noticed that Elmo was on it.......and kept crouching down to look at his red furry friend who was just taped onto his cousin. It was hilarious! Tonight I found some Elmo songs on the computer and played them for Cole. He did his monkey dance to them and jumped and got all excited that he didn't have to wait until tomorrow morning to see his favorite Muppet again. As his mom, I am looking forward to finally having something that will, shall we say, get us through the day? When Cole is just cranky and nothing I do seems to please him, I can turn to my new good friend, Elmo. I've already used this new method of ours once and it's worked!Now, bear with me because it may seem like a complete stretch. But Cole made me realize something tonight.....aren't we supposed to view God like this? I should be getting unbelievably excited when I see God working in my life or in the lives of others around me. I should jump at the chance to see Him, to listen to what He has to say, to spend time with him. I should turn to Him when I am having a bad day instead of going through the ritual of complaining to others...and once I turn to Him, I should be satisfied. I should realize that I have complete access to God....I don't have to wait until another time to talk with Him, to learn from or about Him.....He is always here and He has no time slots of availability. So why am I not elated as Cole is when he sees his favorite TV character? There is something so simple yet so profound in his love for Elmo......and I just feel that if only more of us could grasp that same reaction toward God, we would have such a witness for Christ in this world. If our love for God was completely outward, more people might be interested in the King of Kings and Lord of Lords we call our Savior. I know that I tend to keep my feelings for Christ inward - hoarding them to myself really. And just in the simple excitement found in the eyes of my son, God has taught me a lesson. Some may say I'm completely reading into this but I truly feel it was God's joy that we were all experiencing together tonight. Hopefully I will practice that joy more outwardly for others to see.
