Many times our two-year-old Blaine will come into our room at night, rubbing his eyes with one hand and clutching Curious George in the other hand saying, “Hold me Papa.” or “Hold me Momma.” Laura or I will pull Blaine up into bed with us and place him between the two of us. There are times when Blaine is between us that he will hold us, snuggle us close, or smoother us with kisses, but there are also times when Blaine will pull our hair, tickle us, or do whatever he can to stay awake and thus keep us awake as well.
The moments that I love the most, though, are those moments just as Blaine has fallen asleep and I stare at his little face. I find myself noticing every detail of his face; the cowlick in his hairline, how his eyebrows are fine but never stop moving, the way his little nose twitches, how he puckers his lips and scrunches his forehead at the same time. As I lie there in bed and consume every inch of his face I feel sheer joy. I’m not reminded of the times when he was pulling my hair or tickling me while I was trying to fall asleep, all those instances are gone and I’m left with the feeling of joy. There is nothing that I would not do for my son Blaine at that point.
I started reflecting about these times as Blaine is lying between Laura and myself and I wonder if this is how God feels when God watches us. Is this the joy that God feels when God looks down on each of us, His children, and notices all of our nuances and all of what we are doing? Is this why God will stop at nothing to love us, even sending His perfect Son to His other broken children?
I then started to wonder what it would be like if we looked at everyone this way. What would it be like to see people the way that God sees people? How much hunger would there be? How many people would be cold? How many people would go without food and water? How many people would feel alone? What would be willing do for them? What would we be willing to give up? What would we be willing to start doing?
May we begin to notice others around us and may we see them the way that God sees them.