Everybody needs comforting now and then. I think back to each of my children and remember how they consoled themselves with pacifiers, or a thumb, a special blanket, a stuffed animal.
Hans attached himself to a pale blue flannel blanket edged in satin, the perfect wrap for a fall baby. When he outgrew the need, I packed it away, a little worse for wear but still a serviceable blanket.
Then, in the blink of an eye, Hans was a daddy with his own comfort-seeking little ones. I passed along the blanket, and in my recent visit to England, got to see what happened to it. Two year old Thomas has bonded with it and lovingly named it MipMip.
The satin is long gone, and he’s literally loved it to pieces. (Think shreds.)
When Katy realized it was gradually disappearing, she took the larger part of it to her mum for creative reinforcement. Sarah used pieces of an old blue nightie to strengthen MipMip, cutting the last of it in two chunks, one to comfort and one to wash.
Whenever Thomas needs soothing, he calls for MipMip. At bedtime, it’s MipMip he cuddles. If life gets unfair, MipMip is the solution. He’s consistent in his devotion and trusts in his chosen comforter.
If only grown-up tensions could be as easily assuaged. Interestingly, though, when we call on God to comfort us, he always knows exactly how to deliver what we need. Maybe that’s why the Bible is such a big book, inviting us to thumb through its many pages to find relief there.
One of its most familiar passages, Psalm 23, describes a strange kind of comfort: “Your rod [Father], and your staff, they comfort me.” (v. 4) How can a rod and staff bring comfort? In other places in Scripture, a “rod” represents discipline: “Spare the rod and spoil the child.” But can discipline comfort?
I remember a “Little House” episode in which one of the young boys lied and cheated in school, secretly suffering emotionally afterwards. When he was finally exposed, his father said he’d have to punish him “with the strap” (i.e. rod). The boy said, “That’s ok. It’ll make me feel better.” We get that. Paying a proper price sets things right.
But what about a staff? A shepherd uses the crook at the end of it to pull wayward sheep back to him, just as God sometimes abruptly tugs us the same way. Being pulled that way doesn’t always feel good, but to be reunited with him brings comfort.
So, comfort comes in many forms, and of course Thomas’ MipMip is one of them. It’s important to note that if the larger chunks of his blanket can’t be located, one of the tiny shreds works almost as well. Thankfully, though, the Lord never skimps on comfort. He gives it in abundance:
“As we share abundantly in Christ’s sufferings, so through Christ we share abundantly in comfort too.” (2 Corinthians 1:5)
I remember years ago reading a teaching on Psalm 23 from the perspective of a real shepherd. He talked about the use of the staff to guide his charges on their way, but he said the rod was not for the sheep. It was to protect them from predators. Since then there have been many times when I’ve been comforted by the thought of my Shepherd Jesus standing on the path between me and the enemy, tapping that rod in his hand and saying: “you touch my child and you will feel the business end of this.” I think because we can’t see into the spirit world right now, and because life still contains hardship and suffering, we underestimate the fierceness of Jesus’ protective love for us. I have a feeling we will stand back in open-mouthed awe when one day we get to see clearly all the time He has used that rod on our behalf to bring us comfort and protection. Thanks for these words today, Margaret; they were truly timely….as always!