Hush little baby...

I love being a parent. I sit here right now holding my little peanut who woke up early this morning and will only sleep if we hold her. What memories this brings back...

She had a rough babyhood. She was dairy intolerant and was very difficult to get to sleep at night. I spent many a night holding her in the rocking chair until I would trade off with my wife about 1 or 2 in the morning so that I could get a little sleep before work the next morning. At first it was so frustrating. Why wouldn't she just go to sleep?!? She was so tired that she would doze off and then wake up screaming in pain. After a few weeks of my wife being off dairy things got better, but there were still a lot of nights spent with her because of all the things out there that sneak dairy in where you weren't expecting it. Things like sausage, hot dogs, spaghetti sauce, and bread! It made for a lot of nights where we woke up ready to go back to bed. Finally at nine months she was over it. She will turn 2 on Sunday. Since she was 9 months, I've spent a few nights in the rocking chair with her, but they are far between. It's is funny how God does things sometimes. When I was spending all those nights with her it was a tough job. Now as I sit here holding her, I'm thinking that I almost miss it a little bit. There is nothing quite like sleepy snuggles.

I just wonder what goes through her head, both now and back then. Am I her comfort? Am I protection against something? Does my holding her while she sleeps sooth her on some deep level?

Is that what Heaven will be like? Our comfort and protection holding us in His arms, soothing our souls on a level we can't even imagine? It will be even better than that...

Like a 2x4 to the head...

Growing up, I lived in a small town that had no stop lights. There were stop signs, but to this day you will not see a red light for more than 20 miles in any direction. Since moving to the city, I have discovered that I have a curse... I hit every red light possible. The lights see me coming and quickly turn red. I noticed this once when I was in a hurry on the way home from work and hit each of the lights along the way red. I began to pay attention and it was just uncanny. I pointed this out to my wife. She thought it was an exaggeration, but after taking note, she began to see that I hit red lights constantly. A trip to the grocery store would mean stopping at every red light when I was along, or hitting less than half by herself. This was incredibly frustrating to me and I began to try to find ways to avoid waiting at lights constantly.

This went on for a while, but recently we were in a hurry and my curse was in full effect. I was hitting every red light and was frustrated with a number of things about traffic that day. Trying to calm me down, my wife pointed out that maybe the red lights weren't a curse, but rather a message. "Maybe the lights are God's way of saying, 'I love you.'" Nothing like a shot of reason to bring things into perspective. I've been thinking about this a lot lately and noticing it while I drive. It did help to think of it that way.

Then the other night as my daughter was playing the "chase the dog" game, I said to her, "Wait! Stop for just a second." I took her up on my lap, gave her a hug, and told her that I love her. Then I let her down to chase the dog. [2x4 to the head]

I realized that just like my wife said, each red light that I hit might be God's little way of saying "Stop for just a second! Do you know that I love you?"

I think sometimes God's little messages are so subtle that I miss them.

And now, trying to pay attention to those little messages, I'm back to my mission...