up

nothing i am about to say is by any means new imagery, but this week it became meaningful to me in a very tangible way. sometimes, it takes those personal encounters for a true heartfelt understanding to creep into our lives.

my little d walks around behind me like this for a good majority of every day. she doesn't have many words yet, so it is usually accompanied by "uhhh, uhhh, uhhh" in an effort to be picked up. truth be told, it kind of drives me crazy and i often feel like there is no possible way to get anything done. holding a little one makes just about any task nearly impossible and so i must admit her posture is frustrating to me. sometimes it is adorable, but most of the time even when it provokes a smile, it also evokes a feeling of defeat. at the moment those little arms go up, the realization that what i was just about to do is going to have to wait sets in.

but yesterday, as i was nearing the end of my day, and my sweet little d was especially needy and wanting to picked up constantly, my eyes saw her differently. suddenly, i saw her as having the exact posture that our Father wants us to have. He longs for us to run to him. He longs for us to seek Him. He longs to carry us. and while this is not such a novel concept, my viewing of her dramatically changed. instead of seeing those arms as a sign of defeat, they began to remind me of a sign of how God wants to transform me.

and at the moment that my mind started to see delaney's posture as representative of a beautiful faithful servant, my mind flooded with the lines to a song. (isn't God amazing! only He could have caused my mind to make that connection.)

my cup runneth over

I worry about the stain

teach me to run to You like they run to me for every little thing

for the life of me, i could not remember who sang that song or when i had last heard it, but i was pretty certain that i had it on cd somewhere. i spent a good part of today searching for it. sure enough, it is a song by caedmon's call titled sacred. it is a beautiful song about a being a stay-at-home mom and the realization of what is sacred.

if i know me, i'm pretty certain that defeat will eventually return when miss d stretches up her arms, but i had to capture the image on film and mark this moment. i had to stop and mark this moment where God made Himself very real to me and used my sweet babe as a reminder that He longs for me to run to Him just like my sweet e and sweet d run to me all day long. they don't think about it, they just do in naturally. and they do it with the this simple understanding that momma will meet my needs. it is second nature to them. i long to be that way with my Father.