The Fussy Baby

I had the pleasure of babysitting my two grandsons this week. Let me just say right now for the record...they are the most wonderful humans on the face of this planet. This statement is not up for debate.  

Grandson Number 1 is an eight year old and Grandson Number 2 is a 6 month old. just enough age difference to be...interesting. For some reason, Grandson Number 2 was fussy. I tried feeding, rocking, patting, burping, and singing. My singing abilities are limited to “Beautiful Boy” by John Lennon or “Hey Lawdy Momma” by Steppenwolf. No wonder the kid was upset. Nothing I did soothed him. He continued to fret, wiggle and whine. 

When I finally found something he liked enough to stop crying (it was laying in the floor with him, sticking my tongue out and going “booga, booga, booga”...yeah...go figure), the little rascal had worn me out. I was tired, and by then, I was the one ready for a nap.  

I wonder if we ever sound that way to God? I have said some pretty awful things to Him over the years. Did I sound like the fussy baby? Did I make Him want to pull the hair out of His beard (well, figuratively speaking. Don’t we all imagine God with a white beard, though?) Did I wear both myself and God out with the sound of my relentless whine?  I am grateful He has more patience that I do. 

God has never sang Steppenwolf to me. Nor has He ever said, “booga booga booga.” He has done something much better than that. You see, me doing those things to soothe Grandson Number 2 were only a temporary fix. He will cry again and, in fact, he started crying as soon as I stopped. But when God wipes away those tears, He brings something eternal with Him—His Son, Jesus. And while I may cry again, He never leaves  me. He moves into our hearts and stays there and makes His home there. And when He calms our cries, we can take comfort in the fact that He will always be with us when we cry. He never puts us down. He never goes into the kitchen to fix us a bottle. He never closes His eyes when we nap. He gives us something better than a pacifier. He gives us Himself. He will bear our burdens for us, fight for us, sing over us, guard us, help us, and most of all—love us. 

May we be comforted with His love and mercy every day we live. May that comfort be more satisfying than a mother (or in my case, a Grammie) holding her child lovingly in her arms.