Slipping Away with Jesus

“Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I set you apart” Jeremiah 1:5.

Well, it has been an exciting week in the life of our family. After a safe and healthy labor and delivery, my daughter and son-in-law brought their sweet bundle of joy home yesterday. Bruce and I went over to help them settle in and took dinner to them. We sat on the couch and held Emry while they ate their dinner. We reminisced about the past couple of days, and laughed at certain things that had happened. They have two dogs who were being brought home last night to meet Emry. They had the hospital blanket ready to greet the dogs with to get them familiar with her scent. They asked me to take her back into the nursery for a few minutes as they spent time with the dogs. As I sat down in the rocking chair in the dimly lit room I looked down at her delicate little face and thanked God for her life. He had known her before He ever formed her. His hands placed her little life into Caroline, and had breathed His own breath into her lungs. I couldn’t help but to pull her as close as I could knowing she went from God’s hands to our arms. I started thinking of what a beautiful canvas God has painted and that her story to be written had begun. Culture has not yet lied to her, people have not yet disappointed her, and sin has not yet tempted her. In the quiet of the moment as she stared at me, I heard the silence break with my voice. ‘Emry Rose, Jesus loves you and Emmy loves you.’ And then it dawned on me that those words should always be my message to her. The message isn’t difficult: Jesus loves us and we are to love others.

I just picture myself withdrawing into a quiet place with my Father and casting my gaze upon His face. As I lean into Him, it is just the two of us removed from the distractions of life. He whispers things to us, things that we would not otherwise hear among the crowd. He reminds us that Jesus loves us no matter what. Why do we make the beautiful message of God’s love so difficult and try to earn what we have already been given?

I’m so thankful that God invites us to these quiet moments for the purest of reminders. It is up to us to slip away with Him.