She is locked in a gaze of love…
She holds her baby in her arms…
Her eyes locked on his…
His staring back into hers.
“Whose baby are you?” she asks…
Speaking in that voice adults use only when talking to babies…
“Whose baby are you?”
She tickles his chin…
He laughs.
“Whose baby are you?”
He is so small…
So dependent on her.
“You’re my baby…”
“That’s whose baby you are.”
She puts her face close to his, and he giggles again.
One day he will think himself grown…
Not a baby at all…
Not even a child…
He will be an adult.
She can’t imagine that day now.
But she’ll watch as he gains his independence…
Playing with friends when she isn’t there…
Leaving her behind as he climbs on the school bus…
Not thinking about her at all on his first date.
Little by little he will declare his independence from her.
Independence blooming out of dependence.
In the heady days of first independence it is so easy to declare our total freedom…
Freedom from parents.
Freedom from the boundaries of childhood.
Freedom even from God.
“ Whose child are you ?” God calls…
“I am no one’s child,” we reply.
“ Whose child are you ?” God persists.
“I am my own person!” we declare…
A brave declaration…
A declaration ignoring our weakness…
Forgetting His strength.
Disregarding our foolishness…
Overlooking His wisdom.
And still He whispers…
“ Whose child are you ?”
Waiting for us to answer…
“Yours, Lord! I am yours through Christ Jesus…”
Then in the weakness of a baby, we will find His strength…
….for my power is made perfect in weakness.” 2 Corinthians 12:9
In the foolishness of a child, we will find His wisdom…
For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. 1 Corinthians 1:18
And in childlike faith…
We will receive the greatest gift of all…
Truly, I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a child shall not enter it.” Mark 10:15
