Toddler Tuesday: You Got Nuffin!
   As with all parents of toddlers, we are having "fun" with bedtime routines.  Whatever your routine is like, when it comes to bed time, little ones are great at asking for just one more thing... a drink of water... a blanket, a teddy bear, a song, etc.  I laugh whenever we get a babysitter because we leave a long list of all the things that our little one "needs" for his routine.  Once it's in writing you can't help but think... "How did it get to be so long?"  
   The other day my wife was putting our 2-year-old down for his nap after Bible stories and brushing teeth, etc. He started saying to her, "You got nuffin," over and over.  She agreed with him without really knowing what he was saying because she just wanted him to lay down and go to sleep.  Then he finally clarified, "Daddy has a guitar... you got nuffin."  (One of the latest additions to the routine is that I play him a song).  This was hilarious because he has no idea that she plays violin better than I can play anything and she sings better than I do, too.  But we won't tell him that because he'd want that to be part of the routine, too!  
   Sometimes as a parent, especially in the rougher moments, you might feel like you've got nothing.  No matter what you do, it just doesn't seem to be good enough.  But don't be deceived.  You do have something very important and very special.  You have something vital for your children's salvation - God's Word.
   Paul reminded young Timothy of his grandmother Lois and his mother Eunice who taught him God's Word from little on.  Because of what they shared with Timothy even as a toddler, God had created saving faith in his heart, too.  "I have been reminded of your sincere faith, which first lived in your grandmother Lois and in your mother Eunice and, I am persuaded, now lives in you also" (2 Timothy 1:5).  The gospel message they shared with him wasn't nuffin.  It was his salvation: "and how from infancy you have known the holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus" (2 Timothy 3:15).  
   So, whatever your routine (even if there is little or no routine at times), remember what you have and what it has the power to do in the heart of your little one.