Potty Wars
There are few things in life that will hold a parent hostage to frustration like potty-training. In some cases, this is a gigantic task of elephant proportions (had to make the reference).
I know there are stories of some children who adapted to their toilet use very easy, almost making the decision and completing the training in one day. We call them fairytales. There are also the real life stories of the constant battle each day, the cleaning of the training pants, the nighttime runs to the bathroom, and the irritating smile of contentment from the child filling their drawers.
I wonder if the providers of the little potty targets (you actually encourage the child to hit the floating target with their “stream”) really think their products are effective. Do they realize children will become bored with the floating targets and look for more aggressive challenges? Do they realize these more aggressive challenges are usually nowhere near the commode, often involve carpet, and sometimes siblings?
As a veteran of the potty wars, my advise to new parents is to prepare a battle plan. The enemy is not the child, but the child’s bladder – the child is more like a neutral country in the war. The object of the war is to get the hostile bladder and violent bowels to submit to the control of the neutral country. The neutral country, of course, needs to be coaxed into a peace treaty with the bladder and bowels. In the end (no pun intended), the neutral country, bladder, and bowels will unite to form a new conglomerate – there will be peace.
Some people refer to the potty wars as an issue of training. This may be an effective way to view the battle, as the goal is to train the enemy (the bladder and bowels) to submit, and train the neutral country (the child) to exert authority over the disobedient and sometimes riotous enemy. Proper training can induce the peace we are seeking.
Training is often overlooked as a method of obtaining peace in our lives. This is true with potty training, raising children, and extends into other areas of our lives – especially understanding God’s Word.
I know, I know… from potty training to Scripture… who can make the leap? Where is the transition? Well, instead of straining here, dancing from foot to foot, why don’t we just take the plunge together…
When someone is new to Scripture, is it right to leave them on their own to learn? When I first became interested in the Bible, I started reading the very first chapter and tried to muddle my way through Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and all the genealogy and mosaic law.
I found out who begot who and how they begot again, then I forgot who they begot. I tried to follow their names, but it would seem they use their vowels differently than I expected… and I think a few needed Vanna because they were missing some vowels altogether.
I was lost! I was frustrated. I was stressed out. I wanted to read the Bible, but it wasn’t making sense to me.
I didn’t know it at the time, but the Bible even discusses this in Hebrews 5:13-14, “Anyone who lives on milk, being still an infant, is not acquainted with the teaching about righteousness. But solid food is for the mature, who by constant use have trained themselves to distinguish good from evil.” The solid food is a reference to God’s Word, which is difficult for a new believer (an infant) to understand. I was an infant choking on the substance of the Scriptures.
Fortunately, someone gave me the training I needed to begin my journey of learning. I needed to be trained on how to learn from the Holy Spirit and read God’s Word. God, in His infinite wisdom, knew we would need help to understand and apply His word to our lives. We learn about this teacher from Jesus in John 14:26, “But the Counselor, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you.” I learned to ask the Holy Spirit to teach me the meaning of Scripture.
Yet as we learn and mature in God’s Word, it becomes our responsibility to continue to train ourselves, as in the above Hebrew’s verse, “…the mature, who by constant use have trained themselves to distinguish good from evil.” As we mature, we also have the responsibility to those infants – those new to the Word - to help them along so they do not choke and are trained to learn.
Is this learning instantaneous? God gives us a reflection of this process in Proverbs 4:18, “The path of the righteous is like the first gleam of dawn, shining ever brighter till the full light of day.” Our knowledge and learning may start as a glimmer in the twilight hours of morning, yet this should grow to the fullness of day. 
In the end, the darkness and confusion are flushed away with proper training, and we learn.
Glenn Sasscer
www.glennsasscer.com
