Now that my son Benjamin is ten-and-a-half months old, I regret to announce that he has perfected what the baby-raising books call “the demand cry.” When he was younger, his cries mainly indicated a real need, such as the need for food, sleep, or a diaper change. Now, his cries often indicate some sort of want or demand.

This primarily surfaces when I have taken something away, and he doesn’t like it. For example, I take my laptop cord out of his mouth, and he cries. I take my phone or my wallet away from him, and he cries in an attempt to demand it back. I can understand that. What’s harder for me to understand is why he so frequently cries when I shut a door.

Benjamin hates having a door shut in his face. The bathroom door, the bedroom door, the front door, the door to the patio, the refrigerator door, the dishwasher door, really any door will make him cry if you shut it when he was going for it.

I think the crying, though it is a demand for the door to be opened again, is also an expression of a frustrated hope. The open door that he was speed-crawling toward represented hope of the enjoyment of whatever was on the other side. But then mean Mommy came and shut the door, crushing the hope.

I like to think that I’m more mature than a ten-month-old, but I’m really not. If I’m honest with myself, I can think of many times that I’ve cried because of a “door” shutting in my face. Benjamin doesn’t understand why I close the doors, but there’s always a good reason; I don’t just do it to make him cry. And God, my loving Father, doesn’t just do things to make me cry either. If he closes a door, it’s for a reason. I might never understand the reason, and it might never make sense to me. But if I’m crying about it, (or just unnecessarily upset about it) I’m basically saying that I don’t trust Him. I’m saying that know better, so He should listen to what I want. I’m not believing the truth of Romans 8:28, which says:

And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.

Will you choose to believe this the next time a door closes? Will you believe in God’s sovereignty, and that somehow, in His bigger plans, He’s working all things together for the good of the people who love Him? I hope you will! And I hope Benjamin learns that a door closing isn’t something to cry about…soon!