Mary is fussy. She fusses a lot during the day, but all of my children have at this age (not quite two months old). With my admittedly small sample size of four, I think all babies at this age are fussy, so I don't worry about it. At home, we deal with it by putting her in her bed where she fusses herself to sleep in five to ten minutes. When I'm out, however, I can't do that.
On the rare occasions that I go out, usually it is to church, a church function, or to MOPs. And while there, Mary cries. And cries. And cries. She usually refuses pacifier from me; often she won't even nurse. And I cannot quiet her down. I just can't, no matter what I try. I feel like such a failure when I cannot calm down my own child.
Sometimes, a kind soul will take pity on me and take Mary from me. Guess what. They usually have more success in quieting down Mary than I do. Do they know more and better tricks? Maybe. I really don't know.
My point here isn't complaining about how fussy Mary is. That's life, and after four children I know it's not personal.
My point is that sometimes you have to accept help when it's offered. I am a very independent person; I do not like to ask for help. If I want something done, I'll do it myself. If I am unable to do it, well, it's likely to be left undone.
This independence is not a good thing, I know that. And I think that God is using Mary's fussiness to show me that I am part of a family, a family who cares about me and wants to help me. But sometimes they don't know that I need help. A fussing baby is pretty obvious, but other things are not. As my family in Christ, they would be more than willing to help...if they only knew what I needed. I'm learning this lesson, and it's hard. Like I said, I don't like to ask for help, but I think it's time that I learned.
How independent are you? How hard is it for you to ask for help?