The sun has barely risen for the day when I can hear a stirring in my son’s room and then a steady stream of “Mama, mama, mama, mama, mama.” The word I have longed to hear from him now trips off of his tongue as his first sounds in the morning, his cry for food throughout the day, and his howls of pain when he has tried (yet again) to pull up on something that is not stable enough to hold him. My name has become the one word that he will say, usually followed by a stream of babbling. But he knows that when he wants something, all he has to do is cry out, “Mama,” and I will come running. Because he knows that I am there to help him and protect him, he is willing to try new things and to venture out on his own.
As I have grown accustomed to listening for my son’s cries, I have come to realize that God has become accustomed to listening to my cries as His child. He longs for me to call out His name – whether it’s to thank Him for another glorious morning, to plead with Him in my time of need, or to cry out for Him to pick me up when I fall. Even if all I can do is “babble” after calling out His name, I know that He is listening. I can venture out in this crazy, unpredictable world and experience life to its fullest because I know that God will “never leave me nor forsake me” (Heb. 13:5)!
Just as I am ready to wrap my arms around my son and comfort him when he needs me, my God wraps His arms around me and never lets me go! In fact, the love my heavenly Father has for me is much greater than the love I could ever have for my son! Isaiah 49:15-16 says it best, “Can a mother forget the baby at her breast and have no compassion on the child she has borne? Though she may forget, I will not forget you! 16 See, I have engraved you on the palms of My hands; your walls are ever before Me.”
God is holding each of His children in the palms of His hands and is longing to hear us cry out, “Abba Father!” Won’t you make those your first words today?
katiecruicesmith.com 