One of my absolute favorite things about being a mom is this. That moment, when a child cries out in their sleep. They are crying and yelling and kicking around and I lay down next to them, and whisper, “It’s ok, mama’s here”, into their ear while caressing their cheek or their hair, and in a few moments the tension leaves their body, their breathing slows, and they heave a soft little sigh of relief before burrowing deeper into their pillow and going all the way back into a deep sleep. That moment is priceless. To know that for that child, right then, knowing that I am nearby is all that matters.
Of course, there are often times when a mother soothes her child to sleep, only to lie wide awake herself, full of fear, and worry, and doubt. Just the monumental realization that she is so important to such a small treasure like her child is often enough to do it. How will she keep her child safe, as he trusts her to, in a world so full of turmoil and uncertainty? Who will soothe and reassure her that everything is going to be all right? Who can she trust?
I wonder how mothers, or anyone for that matter, who don’t trust that God is good do it. How do they go through the days in a world that they believe is at best indifferent and at worst hostile to them. I can’t help but compare that kind of experience to what it must be like for a child to be an orphan.
3 thoughts on “Trust”
Thanks for your thoughtful comment on my post on Lent!
The wisdom of the Church is unfathomable (perhaps a good reason not to wait to understand before obeying! :), and not least of all is the wisdom of asking for a sacrifice at the very same moment as giving the certain knowledge that we cannot fulfill it.
Lent graciously acknowledges human nature (that we tend to forget when left on our own certain truths, like the Atonement) while increasing the desire for diving nature, or at least the need for it.
For me, Lent is a time when I realize how necessary the atonement of Our Lord is, because I can’t do the littlest thing without compromise.
Anyway, I hope that your Lent is fruitful, spiritually! God bless!
Only His sacrifice is perfect.
Come to think of it, that is one of my best moments too… I think one of the hard things about having older kids is that it gets harder to ‘fix’ things for them. But little kids…ah, they are simple!
Mary
I agree with you, it is an amazing thing to know that you are pretty much so everything to that little person. And then so very humbling and scary right after realizing that!
I love the time that I have to just be everything to my boys and be able to fix everything with a hug and kiss and some extra cuddles.
I get sad thinking about the day that won’t work anymore….
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