Monthly Archives: February 2012

Great Growth

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Last week the midwife who helped deliver our little Autumn Faith on Monday returned for a follow-up visit to finalize the birth certificate and check on mommy and baby. Another thing she did was paint black ink all over Autumn’s tiny feet to imprint them on a certificate, allowing us to view her precious heel-to-toe soles in a new way.

As we marveled over her perfect feet, of course we credited God for the wonder of her unique print patterns, clearly evident in the ink. But when Skylar and Micah put their bare feet next to Autumn’s prints, the resulting picture could have been entitled, “Great Growth.” The progress made between birth and ages 2 and 3 was impressive. Autumn has her work cut out for her.

Pediatricians tell us a baby usually doubles its birth weight by 5 months and triples it by a year, by far the most dramatic growth in anyone’s life, even including a year when we might eat too much. Maybe that’s why eating is a baby’s favorite pastime. Such tremendous growth is a big job.

It’s interesting that God’s growth assignment for a newborn fits a baby’s abilities. Then as the years add up, he still expects growth, but in categories other than physically. A toddler’s biggest assignment is to learn speech and increase vocabulary. A preschooler has to conquer toilet training and begin understanding the social graces, including letting others go first.

Once we reach school, the more difficult growth begins, much of it in the school of hard knocks. Important growth takes place in the emotional realm as children learn to deflect criticism and handle verbal sparring. We grow best through the tough stuff we encounter, and the growth of our feet loses importance, except at the shoe store.

Then we hit full-blown adulthood, and slowly it dawns on us we’re falling short in being able to control life and even ourselves. We experience loss, heartbreak, and failure. And we learn we need help to grow.

God is ready and waiting, patiently standing by all the while as our little feet grow into walking ones, and much later as our childish nature grows into mature character. Little feet get bigger so we can become independent; but God grows our character greater so we can one day succeed not at being independent but at dependency, which doesn’t make sense unless we realize who he wants us to depend on. And of course it’s him.

Once we become dependent on him for every step we take with our big adult feet, life becomes richly satisfying. And it isn’t as if he doesn’t still have plans for our physical soles. He wants us to walk into the lives of others in an attempt to win other souls to dependency on him. And when we’ve grown into that, God lets us know our feet have become downright beautiful, even more attractive than the precious feet of a newborn baby.

“How beautiful… are the feet of those who bring good news, who proclaim peace, who bring good tidings, who proclaim salvation, who say… ‘Your God reigns!’ ” (Isaiah 52:7)

 

The Right Thing to Do

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Before I traveled to Florida, I was happily navigating through Walmart in search of stickers for my grandchildren. Pushing through the women’s clothing section to get to the party aisle, I was thinking of my 5 little ones and especially of baby number 6 (who now has a name and face) when suddenly, out of nowhere, my own mother’s voice rang out in my head. “Margaret, shame on you. Pick that up.”

I’d just wheeled my cart around a grey fleece hoodie lying on the Walmart floor. Mom’s reprimand prompted a memory of decades before when I was a self-centered 15 year old. She and I were often at odds during those days, but we found ourselves on a shopping trip together at Wieboldt’s department store, searching for an outfit I needed but didn’t want.

Wandering amongst the circular racks of clothes, we came to a dress lying on the floor. Without breaking stride, Mom bent over, picked it up and hung it back on the rack. My inappropriate thought was, “They pay people to do that.” But I kept it to myself, to escape a lecture.

Despite my self-absorbed mindset, Mom’s good deed left a mark that lasted 50 years. She hadn’t picked up the dress to teach me a lesson or earn credit with me or anybody else. She did it because she knew someone had to do it, and her thought was it might as well be her. She could help, so she did. It was the right thing to do.

Knowing the right thing to do and doing it, not for credit, not to impress, and not in response to being told to do it, is a good way to live. I would imagine it’s very satisfying. Some people go through life trying to do as little as possible, working to tweak every set of circumstances to their advantage. Others not only live to be helpful, but it doesn’t even cross their minds to step over the clothing.

What is God’s view? Although he’s always overseeing the events on earth, his eyes scanning the crowds, I think he’s watching us especially carefully when we’re alone. How do we act when no one’s looking? Do we cut corners? Stretch the truth? Eat/drink/watch what we shouldn’t? Waste time/money? Do the bare minimum? Maneuver the shopping cart around the garment on the floor?

If we pictured a literal Jesus at our elbow, joining in on whatever we were doing, would we act differently? No doubt.

I turned around, picked up the hoodie, and hung it on the rack.

“Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.” (Romans 12:21)

I hear you.

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I’ve heard wives complain about husbands snoring and husbands objecting to wives’ breathing machines, but there are no more stressful nighttime sounds than those of a newborn. Every parent is on red-alert that first night, listening to their baby sleep, stunned by how noisy he/she is. It’s as if the baby has spent 9 months developing an extensive repertoire of sound effects she then begins to reveal the minute mommy and daddy turn out the lights.

Snort. Squeak. Squawk. Squeal.

It’s a sleepless night to be sure, and even those moments of quiet become cause for concern. (I remember putting a mirror in front of newborn Nelson’s nose to see if he was still breathing.) But God has made babies far sturdier than they first seem. As we look at a fragile-looking infant not yet 24 hours old, it seems illogical to think she’ll probably live to see 100.

In the hours after Monday’s home birth, the two highly experienced midwives took care of mother and baby in every way, educating the rest of us as they worked and chatted calmly throughout the emotionally charged circumstances. One of the midwives said, “No need to worry about those middle-of-the-night baby noises. She’s just doing what comes naturally. It’s absolutely musical.”

That last statement stuck with me. There’s a mile-wide gap between “is he breathing” and “isn’t it musical.” I wonder if that’s what it’s like with God. We squawk about our troubles and snort about life being unfair. Might this sound like music to God’s ears?

Although he tells us he doesn’t like flat-out complaining and often arranges discipline for those who indulge in it, as we go through our days and months struggling with challenges and inequalities making a few sound effects along the way, the Lord just might be saying, “That’s all fine. It proves you’re still living and breathing.”

One thing I know for sure is that God is always glad to hear from us, whether it’s a squawk, a squeak, or a sensible prayer. Our every utterance is important to him, and there’s not a single noise he misses. Just as is true with Linnea, Adam, and their new baby, he loves us too much not to listen carefully, around the clock.

Little Autumn Faith has experienced a long list of radical changes from her world inside Linnea to her new world on the outside, a shock the likes of which won’t be equaled in her lifetime. So, freedom to do a bit of snorting and squealing is the least we can give her. And with God’s help, maybe her parents will soon be able to lie in bed without a smidgen of concern over her nighttime noises but instead be able to simply enjoy the music.

“It is good to praise the Lord and make music to your name, O Most High, proclaiming your love in the morning and your faithfulness at night.” (Psalm 92:1,2)