Lose the binkie faith.

Of all of my girls, I only had one that was a true binkie user. It was my Hope. She got the hang of that thing right away and by the age of three was a true binkie addict.

Much so that an intervention was necessary before the Kennyboo arrived into this world.

After a lot of research and attempted reasoning sessions with her about the usage of the binkie, I decided we were going to have to get a little sneaky on her. Because there was no way she was giving that thing up!

One morning after she came downstairs for breakfast, I went into her bed and found the smelly, crudded and much worn-out pacifier. I cut the end of the tip off so it would deflate and had done the same to each other paci around the house. I placed her paci back in the bed and awaited her discovery.

Sure enough, a few minutes later she had sneaked upstairs to get it. Very confused she came down and said, "Mommy, I dink my paci is doken. Fix it!" [translation: I think my paci is broken]

I inspected said paci and agreed with her that something was wrong. So I handed her all the other paci's in the house. And much to her dismay they too...were all "doken".

But what she did next really surprised me.

She simply walked over to the trash can and placed them all in there. Hope had a big smile on her face and said, "I don't need anymore!"

Now...I wish I could tell you that all was peaches and cream from that point on but it wasn't. There were many melt-downs about the broken paci's that night. She even went to the trash can and panicked as she began to look for her much loved binkies. Eventually, she calmed herself down and was completely fine.

I was thinking about this situation -as related to our faith as I read this verse in my bible:

"When I was a child, I spoke and thought and reasoned as a child. But when I grew up, I put away childish things." -1 Corinthians 13:11

Some day's I wake up and I feel like God looks at me and says, "Seriously? Are we really going back to the trash-can and pulling out the binkie today? We already walked through this...year's ago."

But there is often something within me that longs for the comfort of my baby faith. Things seemed a little less complicated, not so stressful and I was easily soothed in the days of baby faith.

And the Father so gently reminded me that baby faith days are over. It's time for some moving of the mountain faith to rise up...and not just some of the time.

I'm reminded of the verse that says, "To whom much is given, much is required." [Luke 12:48] And I don't necessarily believe that just has to do with finances. I think faith is a hugely bundled in that deal.

Because God has walked each of us through many era's of life that have grown us, stretched us and allowed us to experience Him in ways we never knew were possible.

Binkie faith is faith that we can control and it's limited. And true, there is a season of life for that binkie faith. But when God empowers us with real, grown-up, authentic faith...it's not just an opportunity to use it...it's an obligation.

So I'm loosing the binkie faith, I'm staying away from the trash-can and I'm moving mountains in my life with the faith He's allowed me to experience.