Mega Tantrums and Superhero Parents

                                  
Romans 8:28
One thing I love about going to new places or environments is that it elicits a lot of observation and random thoughts I'd otherwise look past in a familiar setting. Work, a pediatric icu unit, has been this "new" stage for observation lately. I've been repetitively noticing the beauty of parenthood. I think previously I always appreciated it, but lately I see more of the struggles of it in real time. It's fascinating, admirable, and selfless. While by no means do I understand parenthood or am anywhere near being a parent ( I'm still a 5 year old myself), being around parents and their children has given me a smidget of insight to what it's about. I've encountered some of the most patient parents in the world! Children have the ability to throw the biggest, ugliest, mega tantrums known to man when they are not feeling well and are fearful. From a nurse who only cares for patients 12 hours a day, I found my patience being tested through these mega tantrums. They cry at the sight of doctors, yell to refuse medicine, and aren't consolable without their mum and the magic of bubbles/toys. But I look at these sleepless parents who are by their child's side tending to their every need day after day. In the back of my head, I thought, these kids will never know just how much their mom or dad went through even in the future. I've seen how much it hurts parents to see their children hurt. I remember distinctly a time when I was tearful seeing my crying patient as he had chest tubes removed. It was a painful experience! I'm not even his mom! Is this what motherhood is like x 10000?! All this to say, I couldn't help but think, if parents in a tainted world are so great, how much more is the ultimate parent, God the Father, so good to the tantrum child, me? I am that kid that doesn't know what's good for me or not. I refuse to obey even when it is best for me to do so. Instead I am only able to see my immediate feelings. I am the ungrateful child who fails to see the sacrifice made for me. If it pains a parent to lose a child, how excruciating must it have been for God to sacrifice His Son? Praise God who is perfectly patient, loving, sacrificial and trustworthy!

How deep the Father's love for us, how vast beyond all measures, that He should give His only Son, to make a wretch His treasure.