Looking Back

Baby Binks had just stripped the towels off of the oven door (his daily "job") and was heading up stairs, one long towel in each hand.  I heard him cry out plaintively about halfway up and could see him "stuck" about halfway up with one towel trapped beneath a little foot as he tried to move it up the stairs.

I hurried up the stairs to help him, smiling at his adorable, self-inflicted predicament.  He went on his way, this time with me trailing close behind him.  Determined, he carefully moved up step by step, towel in each hand, struggling off and on as the towels would get trapped under all the pudge as moved upward.

Reaching the top of the stairs, he caught sight of himself in the mirror and, like all good narcissistic babies, hurried over to admire the adorable baby in the mirror.  He rounded the corner out of sight and then peeked back, to see if I was there. I smiled at him and then he left my sight again...for a moment.

His little smiling face poked into view as we began our own little game of "peek-a-book" with him being drawn away to other things and then rushing back on his stubby little wobbling legs to see if I was still there. I have been trying to just sit and enjoy my kids more (crazy that I have to try to do that!), so I took this moment to see how many times he would keep coming back.  Sure enough, he came back again and again and again until finally getting distracted by his desire to "wash the mirror" with his towels (another of his self-appointed "jobs").

Normally, this scene would normally have just been cute and I would have went on my way, but this morning, I was led to the following scripture in Alma 34, about prayer:

18 Yea, cry unto him for mercy; for he is ^amighty to save.

 19 Yea, humble yourselves, and continue in ^aprayer unto him.

 20 Cry unto him when ye are in your ^afields, yea, over all your flocks.

 21 ^aCry unto him in your houses, yea, over all your household, both morning, mid-day, and evening.

 22 Yea, cry unto him against the power of your ^aenemies.

 23 Yea, ^acry unto him against the ^bdevil, who is an enemy to all ^crighteousness.

 24 Cry unto him over the crops of your fields, that ye may prosper in them.

 25 Cry over the flocks of your fields, that they may increase.

 26 But this is not all; ye must ^apour out your souls in your^bclosets, and your secret places, and in your wilderness.

 27 Yea, and when you do not cry unto the Lord, let your^ahearts be ^bfull, drawn out in prayer unto him continually for your ^cwelfare, and also for the welfare of ^dthose who are around you.

An image came to my mind of how I am like my baby and God is like me on the stairs.  Every time I "cry unto Him" it is like when my baby kept poking His head around the corner to see if I was there.  Unlike me, though, God is always there when we cry unto him or figuratively "poke our head around the corner."  The joy that filled my heart seeing my baby's happy face and the deep pleasure and satisfaction it gave me to be there for my child lent new understanding to perhaps one of the roles of prayer as we set out to our fields, our houses, our own "self-appointed tasks."

What a simple act--looking back, praying, crying unto God--that can yield such joy.  And, yes, He will always be there.