Once upon a time, in a land far, far away, there lived a princess who met a fire-breathing dragon on the way to her castle. This dragon, with his terrible screams and gnashing teeth, was blocking the way to the happy life and home the princess wanted to get to.

Only it wasn’t a princess, it was me. And it wasn’t a dragon, it was my three year old.

It only felt like I was meeting a fire-breathing dragon, because he was in such a foul and cranky mood. The screams and gnashing of teeth seemed insurmountable, blocking any attempt at a happy life and home. In a fairy tale, a dragon can be a pretty imposing opponent. But compared to a defiant three-year-old in a full-blown tantrum, a dragon is a pussy cat!

How we got to that point I don’t remember. I seem to recall it was a cold and snowy winter day in the midst of a cold and snowy winter. I had a new baby and I was exhausted. We were both frustrated, and nothing was going right for either of us. Somehow we tumbled into a confrontation, a melt-down, and an impasse. At one point, both of us were crying. He was tired and I was fed up!  There we were, eye to eye, toe to toe, no one giving in.

I should have known better. I was a behavior management major in college, for crying out loud! But you know how the plumber’s pipes leak….! You get the picture. At the peak of the fray and in complete desperation, I literally called out to the heavens  in desperation, “What in the world do I do now?” And God answered me. “Hold him.” “Hold him?!” I thought.  ” Are you kidding me? I don’t even want to touch him!!”

Now you might wonder how I knew it was God speaking to me and not my own inner voice. Because if it was my own inner voice, it would have said, “Throw him out the window!” Hold him?!? REALLY?!?

But deep in my heart I knew that was the right thing to do. Someone had to be the grownup that day, and I was the only one there. And so I picked him up and I held him: that snotty-nosed, still-crying, rigid, non-compliant three year old. In the movies, he would have melted in my arms, the music would have swelled, and a happy ending would have been inevitable. This was not the movies and it was not a fairy tale- it was real life. It took us both a long time to settle down, but we did and we got through it. And it’s a moment I’ve never forgotten.

When I had time to reflect on the scene, I realized I had learned an important lesson that day: “Everywhere you go… there you are.”  I had brought my exhausted, mid-winter, totally-overwhelmed mom-with-a-new-baby self to that situation. And it was going badly. “Everywhere you go, there you are.” But I also learned that everywhere you go, God is there, too. All we have to do is ask for help.

Is there something that is overwhelming you today? Do you feel desperate or sad or lonely? What do you need to ask God to help you with today? If you take the time to ask, you might just end up with a fairy tale ending. Or if not a fairy tale ending, then at least the knowledge that God loves you and cares about all the little dragons in your life.