The Giant Plastic Baboon in the Corner

Fear - probably my biggest sin struggle, a huge waste of my energy, and a definite message of distrust sent by me to God - ever so subliminally & under the radar.

Ever learning from the baby, God taught me a little object lesson this weekend.

We're at The Rainforest Cafe with my family visiting from Ohio; this place is quite a sight to behold, especially for a child! Tropical fish in huge aquariums all over the place, real rain falling, vibrant colors, life-sized moving animals galore, steam throughout the place - incredible! Belle should be having the time of her young life! And she did...at first.

She was so pumped, screaming, "Fsh, Fsh (she leaves out the "i" for some reason, seems more difficult to enunciate to me..whatever). Smiles abounded from ear to ear. Then, we proceeded to (dun, dun, dun) "Gorilla Wall".

With the clap of thunder & flash of lightening, the simulated storm began. The music intensified & the larger-than-life Baboons began beating their beastly-chests. Isabelle was terrified; she started screaming & shaking, all the while burying her face in my chest & clinging to me for dear life.

The storm only lasted about a minute or so, but the waiter informed us they would repeat every 1/2 hr. The damage was done. Fear had set in, and there was no reasoning with this child. She spent the next hour and a half clinging to me or Aron, face buried, fingers clenching, unable to concentrate on anything else but the big ugly gorilla directly behind her.

There was NO WAY Aron or I would allow some stupid plastic baboon to harm our precious child - we would have went ape on it (pardon the pun)! Belle's fear was rational, but unnecessary - cause her daddy was in complete control. Not only did she miss out on the amazing people & experiences we were trying to give her, her joy was completely stolen.

Every few minutes, she would peer behind Aron or me to see if King Kong was still there, and he was, so back she darted to her position of defense. She was so preoccupied with her fear, she could not turn from its ugly, powerless face to see the beauty around her.

Hmm...so I must confess that she gets this honestly. Sounds a whole lot like her mother! Whether its fear of cancerous moles, fear of death, fear of China, fear of gas prices, fear of demons, fear of failing a 2nd urine drug screen & being falsely labeled a heroine/codeine/morphine addict from poppy seed ingestion....I mean...random things one could/might be afraid of, just to name a few.

So, to state the obvious inference: Your daddy is bigger than any Planet of the Ape fear you may be experiencing - He has overcome them all. Let's not be so focused on its big, ugly face that we miss out on all the LIFE God is wanting us to experience now!

ejk

ps...aron is critiquing my post & has informed me the monkey species was actually a silver-back gorilla...my bad.