Since I only have five followers, I'm assuming all of you know that I now have a beautiful, miraculous, 10-week-old baby girl named Melody. It's amazing what such a small human can teach you about life. More accurately, it's amazing what God can teach you through a small human. I must first admit that this particular lesson didn't come to me without the help of a motherly mentor. I always appreciate it when she thinks outloud...
This little human that I gave birth to is very, very picky. She likes to be fed a certain way, burped by a specific technique, and sleep in only one position. And then there's the holding. As adults, our natural tendency is to grab a baby and either cradle him in the crook of our arm, or lay him against our shoulder, chest-down. Not the case with Melody. She'll have none of the traditional holding. With Melody, you have one of two options.
1) Place one hand under her neck, and the other under her bottom. Hold her at arms length in front of you, and begin to bounce and swing her until it feels like your arms are going to fall off.
2) Place the right side of her body against your abdomen. Place your left hand on her arm, and then hold her feet with your right hand...DO NOT RUB her feet. Simply hold them with firm pressure.
Like I said, the girl's picky. But she (along with God and the motherly mentor) has taught me something while I was holding her. You see, when I'm bouncing her so hard that it makes me paranoid that social services is going to come barging through my front door at any minute and accuse me of child abuse, she remains calm. If someone were holding me like that, I'd be a nervous wreck. But Melody's entire body relaxes, and she just looks at the ceiling fan while I bounce and swing her around the living room. And then there's the "foot holding"position. Again, she relaxes. And the whole time I'm holding her, she's not looking around the room. No. In this position, she likes to look at me.
And here's today's lesson: We, as Christians, are held by our Father. Sometimes, when He's holding us, it feels like we're bouncing and swinging so chaotically, that He could drop us at any minute. Relax. Just like when we're holding a baby, things are fine until they start to squirm. If Baby relaxes, it makes it so much easier for everyone involved. As humans, we want everything to be easy, to roll along smoothly, to know what is ahead. But God is holding us. He sees our surroundings. He is completely competent, and He won't drop us. And sometimes, He holds us closely to His heart and holds our feet in His hand. Remember to look at his face when He's holding you. He's got your feet under control. Trust what He's doing. Remain calm, and He'll carry you on.
