Holding Hands

Last night as I was rocking Hazel to sleep I began to sing like I normally do and she rested her head on my chest as if to settle in for the evening. When I looked down at her she reminded me so much of when she was just a tiny baby and she would lay her head on my chest and drift quickly off to sleep.

A picture of my sleeping beauty
when she was just a few
days old

This is a comfortable and familiar place for her. Her sweet legs wrapped around my lap and one arm was hugging my ever-growing abdomen, as if she was hugging her baby brother or sister, while the other was curled up close to her face. 

As I began to pray for her I felt the desire to put my finger in her hand so she could hold on tight as we said our nighttime prayers. I specifically prayed tonight that God would start preparing her to be a big sister. That He would give her love, compassion, a nurturing spirit, and a teachers heart toward her younger siblings. I prayed that He would help me to be an example of all of those things to her and the rest of our yet to be born children. I then got an image of me holding the Father’s hand just like Hazel was so earnestly holding onto mine. I prayed that I would be a daughter of God who is eager to hold my Father’s hand at all times and find comfort in the familiar place on His chest. I want to know God like Hazel knows me. I want to be confident in the fact that He will never leave me and that He will protect me at all times. 

Sometimes it is funny for me to think about God in this sort of motherly role because we so often refer to Him as “Father”. But I must remember that I am made in the image of God and therefore He possesses those motherly comforting qualities, and He is the one who can teach me to develop them in the way I should toward my own children. I know that if I am a mother who clings on to the hand of her God, one day I will get the pleasure of seeing my babies let go of my hand and hold firmly onto His. There will be no greater joy!