Lessons from Two-Year Old (part 4 of 4)

One More – One More Please!

It has been journey. And the lessons are way beyond the four posts I’ve made. He taught me so much more. But as the week ends, so do my entries of the powerful insights from the bedazzling tot who hasn’t even made it to his third birthday.

When is ‘enough’ enough? When do we shut down our desire for more? When do we remember the promises we made and stop what we said we would stop. From the mood of a two-year old, the answer is ‘never’!

We bargain and agree to watch more episode of Spidey and His Amazing Friends. We agree to the last one. And all goes well, until it’s over, then it’s “One More.”

We get to go to the Fire Station – even get to sit in and ride Engine #1 … and once he did … ‘One More!’ He wanted a ride on every firetruck.

It’s not just the words, it’s the cutest face, the irresistible smile, and the sparkle from his eyes … like you can make him happy for all eternity with giving in to his request of “One More.” And how can I forget, the raising of his single index finger … One More!

• I give him an animal cracker, and you guessed it, ‘One More.’
• I read him a book … ‘One More.’ (How many muffins does that moose need?)
• We go down the slide … surprise! ‘One More.’
• We jump on the rocks at Pilot Mountain … ‘One More Jump’
• We play an educational game on the iPad … one more time, ‘One More.’
• One More Play … One More Juice … One More Swing … One more feeding the goats at Mill Mountain Zoo …
• One More

Yep, he is the ‘One More’ king. And being the all loving, all giving, all wonderful, favorite PapaDude … I gave him his One More. Just to hear again, ‘One More.’ The cycle only came to an end when his short attention span got him on to something else.

As cute as this little button is, and as much as the ‘One More’ plea rends my heart, it can get tedious. Do I continue to cave? Do I get him mad, even tearful, when I say, ‘No More’? What do I do?

And then, I start to think about my relationship with the Lord. How often do I get blessed and I keep pleading for ‘One More’? How often do I mess up and give into a habit, yet instead of yielding to being personally disciplined and stopping, I say, ‘God will you forgive me just One More time?’ I play the transactional theology card with God … God I will do X if you give me ‘One More’ Y.

And I don’t have the cute smile, the innocent eyes, the charming personality. And neither do you. Yet, God says No More … and I cry One More.

This isn’t really about haggling … it’s about contentment. It’s about learning to trust, learning to be content. Paul stresses we LEARN to be content, and sometimes I am a very bad student. So I continue to learn, and trust … he has promised power, provision, and presence. As Marshall Segal (president of DesiringGod.org) writes, “We will only be truly content with what we have when we know that we have Him.”

Or in the words of Jonas Marin and Reuben Morgan’s song made popular by Hillsong … Christ is enough for me, Everything I need is in You. They even repeat twice so you get it.

We will only be truly content with what we have when we know that we have Him

Marshall Segal

So, no more One More and so much more of … Christ, You are Enough.

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One More thing … For the benefit of my son and his desire to hear his son say this line One More time … Fly Eagles Fly.