Comfort

Maelie gave us a little scare tonight.

She’d been sleeping for over an hour when we heard her cry out through the monitor.

It took both me and Tobin a few seconds to decipher her cry. Like any parent knows…it’s true that you can tell the difference between their cries.

Often Mae will cry from her crib in protest if she wakes up in the middle of the night. (Yeah…she’s not a fan of the sleeping thing.) When she does this we usually ignore it unless it continues for more than a couple minutes, which it hardly ever does.

However, this cry was not a whiny, I’m-so-not-wanting-to-be-in-my-crib cry. It was a I-need-you-now cry.

And it was Loud.

It’s funny that Tobin and I almost argued about who would go check on her. I won for a minute but told him to come up with me anyway.

When I opened the door Mae’ s nur

sery, it only took me a second to realize why she was crying. She’d gotten her leg wedged between the bars in her crib and it was twisted against the wall. It was virtually impossible for her to free herself from the position she was in.

But with the help of Tobin, her leg was free in just a few seconds. She cried a bit longer and wanted to be held and comforted by both of us.

Five minutes later, she was asleep again and is (hopefully) out for the night. (Thank you, God, for a daughter who sleeps peacefully through most nights. Really, thank You.)

After that little episode, I decided I needed to regroup and fight the writer’s block I’d been attempt ing to battle through for an hour with a long soak

in the tub. (Just a side note here, I take a lot of baths. That is to make up for the FIVE YEARS I spent without access to a bathtub.

For some reason, I felt you needed to know that.)

And while I was soaking and trying not to think,

I related my experience with Mae tonight to that of the Father.

How He recognizes our cries and responds to them.

He doesn’t always comfort us in the same way, but rather He gives us what He knows will best help us in that particular situation.

Sometimes that need is just a friend to listen or cry to.

Sometimes it’s an encouraging verse or Scripture passage. Sometimes it’s an e-mail or note from a friend.

Sometimes it’s a hug. Sometimes it’s alone time to teach me that He is enough.

But He always comforts, reminding me that He is near, even if I don’t always feel His presence.

Just my little piece of wisdom for tonight.

Happy Friday!