The Comparison Game

If anyone who has a special needs child, or any child for that matter, says that they have never gotten caught up in the comparison game, I would say...
LIAR LIAR PANTS ON FIRE!

I, of course, would say it nicely.

Andrew is amazing, and has done amazingly well with moving on with his life and his development, but he still is delayed and probably always will be. Please don't cringe as you read that, it is just a fact of the way things are. I would have to say that most days it really doesn't bug me, bother me, or even really concern me all that much.

I am, however, human, and a ton of babies were born to my friends directly before him and directly after he as born. It is impossible not to compare. Impossible. So while I am delighted that some born after Andrew are walking and others are talking, I sometimes think, well, when will you??

The joy of Andrew is the fact that he has slowed our pace of life down just a little bit. You blink and your children have grown and have quickly moved to the next phase. Andrew lingers and I believe there is a lesson there. Take a little more time and linger. We are so busy moving on to the next thing that we don't enjoy where we are.

One of my favorite Beth Moore quotes (a writer of women's Bible studies) is "we are so busy thinking IF ONLY..If only I had more money, If only the kids were grown, If only I was thinner, If only my husband was nicer...whatever the if only is. The problem is that if we fulfilled our list of IF ONLYS, we would just come up with new ones." And this is so true. I don't want to get caught in the IF ONLY game with Andrew, because there will always be another one. This is not to say that I don't work at motivating him to greatness, but finding the balance between therapy and letting him be who he is is a delicate one - and holds true for all my children.

Once again I am reminded to process my feelings (which can be wrong and emotionally volatile) with what the truth of God's Word says.

I am reminded that God Himself is the creator of me and my children. He alone is the maker. Proverbs 22:2 "The LORD is the Maker of them all," and Jeremiah 10:16, "for He is the Maker of all things." The peace of being a believer in the one true God is that I know His Word is true, and if he is the Maker of all, He is responsible for what Andrew will do and not do, and in THAT place is rest. Under that wing of protection I can enjoy and linger over each stage just a moment longer with my baby and not get caught up in the comparison game.

Thank you, Lord. What a gift.