Dear One,
I had a birthday last week and God’s gift arrived a day early. I was sitting in my newly created sacred space room (Hubby’s present to me) when I read these tender words written from the Psalmist to God:
“When I left the womb You cradled me … You’ve cradled me throughout my days.” Psalm 22:10 (Message/Passion).
Cue the crying.
Cradled.
Throughout my days.
Can you just stop and feel that for a moment? Let your tired self go limp into those safe, secure arms?
Cradled means held gently, held protectively, held supportively. Held.
All of you. All of me. All the weight.
It immediately took me to Isaiah 46:3-4, a favorite of mine and one I return to often:
“Listen to me, Jenny?, you whom I have upheld since your birth, and have carried since you were born. I supported you from the moment you left the womb. Even to your old age and gray hairs I will still be there, carrying you. When your limbs grow tired, your eyes are weak, and your hair a silvery gray, I will carry you as I always have. I have made you and I will carry you.”
Carried. Cradled.
From conception to completion.
We need never outgrow this lap, these arms.
I’m taken now to the children’s book, “Love You Forever” by Robert Munsch. In it, a mother cradles her infant son, singing:
“I’ll love you foreverI’ll like you for always
As long as you’re living
My baby you’ll be.”
Throughout her son’s life and into his adulthood (when she would drive across town and climb in through his window), this mother would sneak into her son’s bedroom, gather him up as he slept, cradle him in her arms, and sing this song.
I’m thinking this is what God is like. Like a Mama who can’t help but to cradle and carry all her live-long days.
May God scoop you up, my friend, and hold you gentle, bearing the whole weight of you. And may you rest secure.
Carried & Cradled: Our Little Life Words of the Week.
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DEEPER DIVE
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Ponder:
- In Munsch’s book the Mama doesn’t fix anything for her son, she simply holds him through all his ages and stages. What is it like for you to think of God in this way?
Practice:
- Find and read Robert Munsch’s book, “Love You Forever.”
Play:
- Our song of the week is: O Love That Will Not Let Me Go written by George Matheson and performed by 20 Schemes Music.
Pray:
- Three simple words: Cradle Me, God.