Gladly

The other day I indulged a bit and held my baby through the end of her nap. She woke early and I held her for about 15 minutes while she slept. And through her little baby dreams, escaped smiles, a scrunched up nose and sweet little giggles. I sat there rocking her, breathing in her sweet scent and kissing the top of her head.

And as we rocked I whispered to her: I will gladly hold you forever.

As I spoke those words, God spoke back to me: I will gladly hold you forever.

When your focus is on your infant, there are days that the world is foggy and the only thing clear is wanting to soothe the little life in your hands. And because your vision becomes tunneled, you sometimes find yourself weary. Your days are spent holding and loving everyone around you. And every moment that you’re able to love, you realize it was for these moments that you were created. You were created to love and hold and cherish and adore.

But at some point your batteries run low and you remember that as much as you were born to love – you were also born to be loved. You were made to love God but also to be loved by God. You were made to receive love as much as you were made to give love. And it’s so easy in our troubled days, our sleepy eyes, our busy hours, to forget what it is to receive love. Sometimes it’s in a phone call, an email, a hug or even in a quiet moment when you’re rocking your baby that the love you have just poured out on your sweet one was so tenderly returned by a reminder from the Father.

When I worship at church, I often dance with Jesus. It may sound odd, but I do. As I’m singing sounds of praise, I can see a dance floor laid out. And then Jesus takes me by the hand and we dance. For a few moments, the seas part and the dance floor is made just for the Lord to hold me and carry me across a golden ballroom. And when the music stops, Jesus hugs me for a moment and then we gracefully part. For me, that time is a time of rejuvenation. I am reminded of the absolute fluid and never ending love that God has for me through Christ.

And while I whispered: I will gladly hold you forever. God was reminding me that it was He who first held me and who promises to hold me forever. It’s up to me, to us, to slow enough to experience the dance, to feel the hug, to accept the offer of kindness and to rest when we allow ourselves to feel God extend himself to us in the most simple of ways.

I will gladly hold my baby forever.

It would be my delight to stroke her hair every day, to kiss her sweet cheeks, to hold her feet in my hands, to pat her back, to gaze into her eyes and to cherish her every smile and wet kiss. I imagine that it would also be God’s delight to take pleasure in us just the same – and I imagine that, like a parent, it would bring him such joy knowing that his babies understand his love and return it not because they have to, but because not returning it would never enter their minds.

When you are held by God, it is forever. His promise is to love us forever. And just like a mother desperately wants her baby to remember and be able to recollect her love when it’s most needed – so does God desperately want us to call on Him.

He will gladly hold us forever if we let him.



1John 4:7
7Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God.

1John 4:19
19We love because he first loved us.