Some Meaningful Pittle

Riley is this beautiful girl with hair like her Aunt Shannon, and she'll probably be as tall too.  She has the brain and volume of her father.  Loud talkers, those two.  And smart.

Low and behold, she has the emotion of her mother.  How can she have all these manipulating tools in one package?  Take heed, friends and neighbors.  We are on the brink of having a powerful WOMAN here.

Well, I let this nearly-woman-child stay up until 9:30 with me Friday night while her Dad was out with the boys.  So she was a little tired Saturday afternoon when her 4-yr-old sister was messing up her hideout project she was working on.
All of the sudden Riley wished none of her sisters were born (she scream-cried this while she sprint-stomped through the house with her hair flailing).  The world is already becoming a disastrously difficult place for this woman-child, and she's barely gotten out there in it.  I followed her to the laundry room where she cried in the fetal position under my fabric scraps.

I was on the verge of laughing/informing her of how pittle-y (I realize that isn't a real word, but my mother always said it.  It's like pittle.  And this situation was pittle-y; of no consequence; not worth your tears).  But then I remembered that my pittle isn't pittle-y to me, and I usually like to be hugged when my pittle-y things make my heart heavy.  I don't like my pain to be minimized.  And clearly, this was painful for Riley.   Well, and she was just darn tired.

I talked to her about how our circumstances are a terrible thing to rely on for joy.  How some people just say, "Thank you, Jesus" more because they know He is so good to them who don't deserve all the goodness He pours on them.  I told her my own heart keeps me from joy and it was her own heart keeping her from joy.
I asked her if she really felt her own sinfulness every day, or did she just feel Kate and Claire's sinfulness?  So the hideout gets messed up.  We love Kate more than hideouts.  Take a deep breath.  Step back and look at the big, eternal picture.  You have a Savior you don't deserve.  She herself concluded that she wasn't grateful for a Savior because she didn't feel the weight of her own sin.  That was a powerful and sad moment where I said, "me too."

But then we both agreed, Riley nodding whole-heartedly that it was hard for us to forget how much I (the mom) needed a Savior, because my sin is very apparent all the time.  "I'm so grateful for that!  I'll never forget!" I said, and we laughed.