This morning I held my niece. I rocked her gently to sleep while I waited for her mom, my sister, to return home. I listened to her breath, at first anxious and staggered through cries for "mamuh". But the tears quickly relented as a held her tight and rocked. Savannah held a fist's grip around my index finger, a simple act of comfort she's formed with me in her first two years. I was half asleep myself but somehow managed a quiet observation in that peaceful state; how fragile is this tiny hand that squeezes my finger. I thought about how easy it would be for each precious finger to be broken. I can wrap my hand around her entire arm with room to spare. It's amazing how weak young bodies are, how fragile. And yet somehow they grow and strengthen. And even when bones break they can be healed with such ease and will be even stronger than before. It's an amazing thing God has made, the human body.
What stood out to me in my near sleep state this morning is how similar our spiritual bodies are to our physical ones. In our young state we are so fragile, so impressionable, so vulnerable. And yet somehow they grow and strengthen as we follow Christ. And even when our hearts break with the trials of life, God heals them with such easy and makes them even stronger than before.
I had a lot of spiritual broken bones when I was younger. So many I often wondered if they'd ever heal. With time the Lord has mended and set straight what had been undone. I can't help but wonder if He ever looked at me they way I did holding my niece this morning, with such understanding of how fragile I am and how easy it would be for my heart to be broken. I bet He held a compassion in His heart to want to secure, protect and defend me, even more than I did Savannah. And that's a great feeling, especially at 6:30 AM in a half slumber.
Selah.
