Joel is infatuated with light switches right now. \u00a0Every time we pass by some light switches he wants to stop and play with them to see what they do. \u00a0I can understand the sense of instant gratification he must feel when flipping a switch immediately changes the environment around him, such as turning a light on and off, on and off, on and off…<\/p>\n
Sometimes he experiments with pushing the switches side to side, which obviously doesn’t work, but either he is just testing this concept for consistency, or perhaps he thinks that light switches should logically switch in multiple directions. \u00a0That could be interesting…<\/p>\n
But I can also understand the frustration he shows when he flips a switch and nothing happens, or nothing seems to happen. \u00a0Some switches are wired to outlets with nothing connected, or outdoor lighting but it’s bright outside. \u00a0It’s hot now so we’ve been running our fans. \u00a0Turning a fan off has no noticeable effect unless you’re willing to wait for the result. \u00a0Joel is used to instant results like\u00a0he gets with the light switch. \u00a0Try as I might, I’ve been unable to explain to him or relieve any of his frustration that those switches DO work, they are effective, he just doesn’t understand their purpose, doesn’t have the patience to wait and see, and doesn’t have knowledge of the laws of inertia.<\/p>\n
God is so good. \u00a0Despite being witness to and experiencing the benefit of numerous miracles in my life, I confess that sometimes\u00a0I struggle with faith in the effectivity of prayer. \u00a0I was confessing this to God earlier\u00a0this week, sort of an, “I believe, help me in my unbelief” moment. \u00a0This week I spent more time with Joel than normal while Becca was sick, so this is really the first week that I’ve noticed Joel’s obsession with switches. \u00a0As Joel was playing with the switches and showing his frustration, God totally spoke to me in that moment.<\/p>\n
God was basically telling me that our (my)\u00a0attitude towards prayer is often times\u00a0much like Joel’s love\/hate relationship with switches. \u00a0We’re excited when we see an immediate response, but we question and grumble when the response is not immediately apparent. \u00a0Just be cause we don’t understand God’s greater plan doesn’t mean that prayer is ineffective.<\/p>\n
Lord, thank you for speaking to me yet again through my children. \u00a0Thank you that you are patient with our grumbles and unbelief. \u00a0Thank you that you are the good, good Father who loves us and holds us high enough to “play with the switches” through prayer. \u00a0Lord thank you for revealing yourself to us, and I ask that you would\u00a0reveal more and more of the mysteries of the ages to us (1 Cor 2:7,10) as we are able to receive them. \u00a0Prepare our hearts, grant us wisdom and faith. \u00a0We love you because you first loved us. \u00a0Amen.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Joel is infatuated with light switches right now. \u00a0Every time we pass by some light switches he wants to stop and play with them to see what they do. \u00a0I can understand the sense of instant gratification he must feel when flipping a switch immediately changes the environment around him, such as turning a light…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":26424,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[9,190,212],"tags":[1274,21,1275,1273,1049],"class_list":["post-7145","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-faith","category-joel","category-nate-2","tag-delayed-gratification","tag-faith-2","tag-instant","tag-light-switch","tag-trust","wpcat-9-id","wpcat-190-id","wpcat-212-id"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p504YJ-1Rf","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":2656,"url":"https:\/\/www.themoehrings.com\/index.php\/2013\/03\/circuits","url_meta":{"origin":7145,"position":0},"title":"Circuits!","author":"Becca","date":"March 5, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"We unexpectedly received a gift of Snap Circuits Jr from a Sonlight mom who had found our blog when we were linked at Sonlight. 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The assigned\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Core K"","block_context":{"text":"Core K","link":"https:\/\/www.themoehrings.com\/index.php\/cat\/homeschool\/core-k"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.themoehrings.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/05-1.jpg?fit=1200%2C960&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.themoehrings.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/05-1.jpg?fit=1200%2C960&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.themoehrings.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/05-1.jpg?fit=1200%2C960&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.themoehrings.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/05-1.jpg?fit=1200%2C960&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.themoehrings.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/05-1.jpg?fit=1200%2C960&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":16830,"url":"https:\/\/www.themoehrings.com\/index.php\/2021\/01\/5th-6-weeks-of-kinder-2","url_meta":{"origin":7145,"position":4},"title":"5th 6 Weeks of Kinder","author":"Becca","date":"January 23, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"Joel finished up week 30 a couple weeks ago, so we are on track to finish right before we start 1st grade after his birthday in February. 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