Being a Parent

The other day I was dropping Ally and Jacob off at Jane's house in the morning.  I was standing in the kitchen (near the foyer) talking with Jane, when it got quiet and I heard someone cry.  I thought Ally had maybe gone upstairs and was scared or something.  I walked into the foyer, and saw her outside, trying to open the door.  The poor girl was too short to open the door from the outside because of the step, though she could open it from inside just fine.  She was crying so hard.  It still breaks my heart to remember it.  I ran out and picked her up and cuddled her.  She stopped crying pretty quickly, but her face was all red and she had tear tracks down her face.  That was one of the hardest mornings to leave her and go to work.  My poor baby girl.  That night we talked about Grown-ups, and how she can only go outside if a grown-up is with her, and who was a grown-up and who wasn't.  She hasn't done it again.  I hope that she won't.

It made me think though.  How often are we scared or desperate or sad or feel abandoned?  Standing outside the door, crying out for help, trying to help ourselves, but simply unable to fix it.  I think that it happens very easily, even to those of us that have more knowledge.  It made me think of those of us that have those feelings, and how our Heavenly Father must feel for us.  As soon as I saw that Ally was upset and scared, my heart ached for her.  I wanted to take away the fear let her know it was okay. 

I was praying on my way to work, and started to ask for that for her - for her to have that fear be gone.  But then I thought that this was a learning opportunity and that the fear could be for her good, so that maybe she won't do it again.  We've all heard stories about children wandering streets and often getting hurt because they get outside by themselves.  Maybe she'll remember that fear and not do it again.  So, I changed my prayer to ask for comfort for her that she'd know I loved her and won't ever leave her, to help calm the fear, but not to take it away.  What must our Heavenly Father feel?  So many of his children crying out in fear, sadness, or whatever.  Heavenly Father knows the end from the beginning, but I still think it must be hard to see us suffer. 

Probably nothing profound in this for anyone reading it, but it made my relationship with Heavenly Father a little more personal to me, as well as reminded me of what our Father does for us - through the gift of His Son and the Holy Ghost.  I would do anything to protect, teach, and help my children know I love them more than anything and that I am here for them.  Our Heavenly Father is the same, just on an eternal (and all-knowing) scale.