No! no! NO!

My sweet baby girl learned to say the word "no". Up until now she would just shake her head to tell us no, but now she says it out loud. When she would shake her head, there were only two kinds of no: the shake only and the wildly flailing arms accompanied by the shake. Now, there are various kinds of no. This girl has mastered in the course of 2 days all the different intonations you can have for that one word. And, let me tell, she has some attitude when she says some of them.

It's nice that I can ask her a question from the other room and hear her response without having to see her, but only if the answer is no, because she doesn't say "yes" yet. She usually bypasses "yes" and just says "please" because most of the time we are asking her if she wants something. Knowing this, I probably shouldn't have asked her in the car today "Do you love Mommy?", because she promptly responded with the snottiest "No!" I've ever heard. When I told her it makes me sad to hear her say that and that she shouldn't use her words to hurt people, she quickly said "sorry". It's a good thing her "sorry" is much sweeter than her "no". I had already forgiven her before she apologized because I love her and I know that she really does love me, but it was still nice to hear her make things right on her own. I'm sure I'll be hearing it again throughout the years with even more attitude than a little one year old can muster up.

Isn't that like God and us. He asks, "Do you love me?" He says, "If you love me, you will obey what I command" and that "he who does not love me will not obey my teaching." (John 14:14-16, 23) Often times by our actions we send back to Him the snottiest "No!" He's ever heard. But, because He loves us, He has already forgiven us long before we ever tell Him we're sorry. The Bible teaches us, "If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness." (1 John 1:8-10) He's just waiting to hear "I'm sorry". Really, it's not for His benefit, but ours.