Mark 10:14-16
..."Let the little children come to Me, and do not forbid them; for of such is the kingdom of God. Assuredly, I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God as a little child will by no means enter it." And He took them up in His arms, laid His hands on them, and blessed them.
Many of you know I have a little girl, Nicolette, and those of you who truly know she and I also know that she has always slept in her own bed since the first week I gave birth to her. Well I got the notion to turn her crib into a day bed for her to sleep in as a big girl does since she is already potty trained & needs to use the rest room at night. It didn't go as I had planned; the past month and a half my daughter, Nicolette, has been sleeping with me. Of which I have loved the snuggles with her, however, it's time for her to get back into her bed so Mommy can have a couple hours of quiet time before going to sleep.
I started the process this last Friday night (Feb 11th) and so far it has been an easier process than I thought it would be. I had visions of fighting with her to get her to stay in her bed for hours before her finally falling asleep! Nicely, she has proven those thoughts to be only "what if's" and nothing more :O) She has been waking up in the middle of the night to use the rest room and then getting into bed with me and sleeping with me the rest of the night (which I am perfectly fine with-it's the couple of hours of quiet time before I go to sleep that I like to myself). Friday night (Feb 11) it was 4 AM-ish-she came in and got into bed with me. She kept me up for about an hour tossing and turning before I got firm and told her to be still and quiet THEN she fell asleep. Saturday night (Feb 12) it was about 1:15 AM-ish-she came in and got into bed with me. She kept me up for about an hour tossing and turning before I got firm and told her to be still and quiet THEN she felll asleep. Sunday night (Feb 13) it was about 3:15 AM-ish-she came in and got into bed with me. She kept me up for about an hour & fourty-five minutes.
Sunday night was different however. She came in and it was the (now familiar) routine of tossing & turning and trying to get my attention. Me growing frustrated and wanting to get back to sleep, so on. Nicolette always lays to my right and anytime I try to turn to lay on my left side she softly whispers, "Mommy...mommy," and she very very VERY lightly touches my right cheek for me to turn to her. OR If I am laying on my back and turn my head to the left (which faces away from her) she does the same, "Mommy...mommy...mommy," and very very softly touches my cheek for me to turn to her. When she is close to snuggling in for the night she lays on her left side so that she is literally face to face with me (pretty much touching our noses together). And when she does this she does it SO gently and SO sincerely. Then she starts tossing & turning and the cycle goes on until I get firm and say to her be still and quiet. This night, however, was a little different. I was wide awake and for some reason just having a hard time MYSELF of being restless and couldn't get settled. At the same time, Nicolette was going through the same motions of wanting me to "scwatch-uh back, Mommy? Scwatch-uh back? Peas? Mommy?" Of which I would, and then she would start to ease into sleep then when I thought she would be falling asleep I'd turn to my left side to try and get settled for sleep and then the cycle would begin again...she would gently brush her fingers on my cheek to turn to her.
(there is a point to all of this I promise).
After this going on for almost two hours I was getting pretty frustrated...I was about to get firm and say to her to be still and quiet when God reminded me of the above scripture. It literally just popped into my head. " Now, I have heard this scripture SO many times through my life and I have always automatically put it in my mental "Faith" topic box. Right then I knew God was trying to show me something so I had to break it down.
It starts off with "Let the little children come to Me, and do not forbid them; for of such is the kingdom of God." It was literally as if God was stopping me from getting firm with her (verbally of course) and telling me "Let her come to you, show her your face, do not forbid her to try to get your attention and push her away by telling her to be quiet, do not cut off your supply of quality time with her just so you can go back to sleep. She wants to be comforted by you with your loving snuggle right now." As soon as I wrapped her up in my arms and was literally face to face with her the whole moment changed, she was still, she was at peace. We were both at peace.
The next part of the scripture is what I'm most familiar with, "Assuredly, I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God as a little child will by no means enter it." This is the portion that I have always deemed as related to "Faith" only. However, He pointed out to focus on the last bit of the scripture, "And He took them up in His arms, laid His hands on them, and blessed them." Then the most amazing warmth and peace came over me. God showed me that, yes He wants us to have faith as a child does to believe that what He tells us is the truth and for our benefit and to accept His Word as a child trusts & accepts their parents words, BUT He wants us to CRAVE or to DESIRE His attention, His FAVOR, His BLESSING. The verse says that He wrapped them up in His arms, laid His hands on them, and blessed them!! Children WANT that. They want to please us as parents. They want our praise and love. Just as Nicolette was craving my attention, to "scwatch-uh back", to be face to face, she was also wanting my favor on her and the peace of knowing I'm right there for her to bless her with the love she craves. She was lovingly brushing her fingers on my face for me to turn to her so she could receive the favor I have for her!! Do you see where I'm going with this?
God wants us to have faith like a child. He also wants us to desire/crave his favor as a child does. I don't want to just claim I have faith in God so I can get into heaven...I crave Gods personal favor over me! I crave His personal attention, His loving snuggles! I want that intimate love He has for me ALWAYS.
Am I making sense?? I hope I'm articulating this right. God is SO good. I am in awe that He has chosen to trust me with Nicolette's life to raise her and that He is teaching me to love and raise her the way He would!!
I had to share this...I hope this blesses you as much as it did me :O)
