A baby's delight becomes my delight. I have just spent 4 days with a 5 month old baby. She is discovering herself and she is delighted. She kicks her legs in the air and reaches for her toes with the most satisfied smile. She holds onto her feet and looks at me as if to say."Aren't these the most beautiful feet you have ever seen?!"
Then she discovers her voice. She's been cooing for several weeks and now she finds she can laugh and scream in joy and repeat the same sounds over and over. She's found her voice! How I pray she continues to find her voice---that all of us who love her so dearly and delight in her new voice encourage her to use that voice for the rest of her life.
And then there is news that a young woman we have known since birth and is now in her 20's is using her voice and the power of that voice in unbelievable ways. This is a young woman who as a child and teenager struggled mightily with anxiety and bullying. Sometimes we wondered if she would ever leave home. Now she travels to the mideast (Egypt/Jordan) to help refugees, to become more fluent in the Arabic language. She has blossomed into a young woman with a powerful voice.
That has happened with the love and support of parents, teachers, and mentors--people who held her in her struggles, acknowledged her challenges, and encouraged her to use her gifts.
All of us want to be that kind of parent...delighting, loving, patient, and encouraging--- but all too often in our frustration with children being children and us being us, we are less than we want to be. We yell, we tell them to be quiet, we grab them a little too hard.
Today, let us pray to be gentle with the children we are with. Even if we only meet them in the grocery store or on the bus or at our dinner table, let us give a smile, speak softly, delight in their discoveries, show love.
Isn't that what we want from God, our Father?---a smile, a softly spoken word, His delight in our discoveries, love.
Blessings-Penny
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