At Peace

A weaned child is so completely different to hold than a breastfed babe. I remember holding little ones in any position but the feeding position for the hours in between feedings. Place a breastfed baby in the feeding position, let them smell the slightest hint of milk and they thrash and fuss and search until they find what they are looking for. Even before they are aware of what they are searching for, they grow anxious and disquieted, in search of it. Psalm 131 came alive yesterday as my eyes and heart saw more clearly its meaning. 


"Lord, my heart is not haughty, nor mine eyes lofty: neither do I exercise myself in great matters, or in things too high for me. Surely I have behaved and quieted myself, as a child that is weaned of his mother: my soul is even as a weaned child. Let Israel hope in the Lord from henceforth and for ever." Psalm 131


Suddenly I thought of the weaned child and how you can hold them in any position, closely upon your breast and they are calm and content and at peace. There is no frantic searching, no fussing, no fretting;  just rest. When we are prideful, trying to see what God sees, worrying over His way and will for us, we are as that breastfed baby in the feeding position. We thrash and search, trying to sustain ourselves, fully disquieted and anxious. When we trust God with the great matters and things that are too high for us (which is everything) we rest calmly upon his chest and are at peace. He sustains us and blesses us with every good and perfect gift. We need not thrash and search and worry and wonder. We need simply to rest, as a weaned child, upon His chest. He is     El Shaddai. Amen.