Category Archives: Children

Miss Octopus

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Little Emerald is a happy baby, smiling even when she’s exhausted or hungry, sometimes when we’re not even looking at her. And if she’s crying, the slightest encouragement brings a smile while she’s still in tears. She even smiles at her rattles and toys, though she saves her best grins for one toy in particular: Miss Octopus.

Miss Octopus

This aqua-colored stuffed animal was designed to hang from a baby’s play gym, but Emerald liked it so much we hung it from a kitchen cabinet instead. Not a day goes by that she doesn’t have several communication sessions with Miss Octopus, gazing up at her from a blanket on the counter.

I don’t think Emerald loves Miss Octopus with the same adoration she feels for Birgitta, but there’s definitely a strong attraction. When she gets a glimpse of her blue friend she gets instantly happy, no matter what her mood.

Emerald’s world is limited compared to the rest of us. She’s never been far from home and is happiest when keeping to a calm, slightly dull routine. Because of that, it doesn’t take much to get her excited.

That’s not true for the rest of us. We’ve been around the block a few times, so to speak, and it takes quite a bit more than the wide smile of a stuffed octopus to get us going. That’s especially true of our spiritual lives. We might find that our Bible reading and prayer times don’t enthuse us anymore, though we’re not sure of the reason.

Maybe it’s because we haven’t experienced God doing anything for us lately, so we’ve become indifferent toward him. And the reason behind that might be we’ve forgotten what he looks like, so have missed what he’s done for us.

Scripture tells us how to “see” him. We’re to watch for unusual circumstances that first appear to be merely coincidental. Do they have something to do with what we’ve prayed about? If so, could it be God’s movement we’re seeing?

We’ve also learned that when life starts falling apart, we’re supposed to watch for him. In the midst of everything going bad, he’s usually right around the corner. Another place we might see him is just after we’ve received shocking news of any kind. When we cry out in anguish, he responds from nearby, showing himself to be very close.

Delight over Miss Octopus

There are other ways we can see God too, such as in the natural world, but none of the above “sightings” will happen without one prerequisite: we have to look for him. And just like little Emerald looks for Miss Octopus when she’s put on the kitchen counter, we ought to strain to see our Lord. Then, when we do, it’ll be even more exciting than Emerald getting a glimpse of her much-loved octo-friend.

“You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.” (Jeremiah 29:13)

Funny how that works…

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Jack's delightI absolutely love winter. My heavy black coat thickens into a super-coat, and the panting heat of summer is long gone. Snow is like the frosting on my wintertime cake, and I like to burrow in it, roll in it, and wriggle upsidedown happy-dancing in it. Truth be told, I’d like to live outdoors through the entire winter except for one thing: the people I love are inside.

The newest person inside the house is the baby who arrived last October. I didn’t stress much at the time, figuring her position on center stage would be short-lived. After 3½ months, though, she’s still the main attraction, and I have definitely slipped in the rankings. Most of the sweet-talk is still going her way, and the general public races to greet her first now, instead of me.

But something odd has happened in the last week. Deep inside me I sense the beginning of a strange affection for this mini-human. Unlike me when I was 3 months old, she can’t walk, run, stand, or even sit up. She’s virtually helpless, and my heart goes out to her. She doesn’t even realize she could reach the dog treats if she tried.

So finally I decided to reconcile myself with the fact that she’s here to stay, and along with that, I might as well get in sync with the others in our house. Now when I hear Midge or anyone else cooing or sweet-talking the baby, I no longer push in for my share of the love. Instead I’ve begun a little cooing of my own. Though it sounds more like a squeaky hinge, in my head it’s cooing.

Love

And it’s funny what began happening. Last week when I gently laid down next to the baby on her play mat, both Birgitta and Midge ran for their cameras. “Look how cute he is!” they said, actually referring to me this time. “He wants to be with the baby. What a sweet doggie!” And click-click went the cameras.

Later that day I gave the baby two gentle kisses on her tiny hand, which was a special gift to her, since I give out only about 5 kisses per month. (By the way, she tasted very good.)

You know, sometimes when we want something badly (like I wanted all the attention), it escapes us. No matter how we try, we can’t make it ours. Then when we give up and surrender the thing we wanted most, it somehow comes to us! It doesn’t make sense, but that’s what’s happened to me.

Making a snow angel

And I’m so thrilled about it, I think I’ll go out in the snow right now and celebrate with a nice long happy dance!

“Give, and you will receive…. The amount you give will determine the amount you get back.” (Luke 6:38)

Did you mean to be mean?

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Every young mom worries about the safety of her newborn, especially in that first month. Will I drop him? Will I accidentally scratch her with my nail? Will he fall off my bed if I nap him there?

But what about us grandmas? We wonder if we’ll stumble or even fall while holding the baby. What if we run out of energy or doze off unknowingly while on duty?

Not so safe

In other words, what if we cause harm without meaning to? I know the answer to that, because it happened to me this weekend. I should say, more accurately, it happened to Emerald.

Our little girl has grown to be 3 months old but has never had her nails cut. Birgitta knew it was time, having been repeatedly scratched by her “caresses.” So I decided to be a good grandma and buy a special baby-sized clipper, the one that had “Safety 1st” in its name. When clipping time came, Emerald clenched her dimpled fists, making her fingertips go white (the same color as her tiny nails). Birgitta just couldn’t do it.

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Although I have no memory of clipping baby fingernails, surely I must have, so I volunteered. The first 3 fingers went well, and we heard the snip-snip of her soft nails, but the 4th finger snip didn’t make any noise. That’s because I’d inadvertently cut the tip of her finger, missing the nail completely!

As Birgitta worked to comfort her screaming, a rush of regret poured through me. Emerald’s first bleeding episode, and it was my fault. I lost 2 hours of sleep that night berating myself, though Birgitta didn’t lay blame.

Sadly, in a few days, Emerald will be hurt again, this time with a vaccination needle. Such “harm,” though, is carefully calculated and allowed to happen for a valuable purpose. Because of that, her mommy will be in favor of her “suffering” on that day.

God uses a similar logic. If we receive a bad medical report, or if an accident occurs, a financial downturn takes place, a hope is dashed, a relationship fractured, a job lost, God is allowing it. But he never lets it happen until he’s first assessed that it has a valuable purpose, much like Birgitta assessed the vaccination.

When life hurts, we can’t imagine why God doesn’t eliminate the pain, just like Emerald will be bewildered and upset at her upcoming doctor’s appointment. But Birgitta is going to orchestrate that, whether Emerald understands or not. The same goes for us.

So, what’s our best response? We should do just what Emerald did when I clipped her finger: she looked to her parent for comfort. We should turn to God in that same way, knowing he’ll never allow pain into our lives without a valuable purpose behind it…

Thinking it over...

…something far more important than well-trimmed nails.

“I know, Lord, that our lives are not our own. We are not able to plan our own course. So correct me, Lord, but please be gentle.” (Jeremiah 10:23-24)