Grand Babies

Today, my family was watching a movie together, and my sister brought the three-month-old baby, up to join us. Freshly awake from his nap, my nephew was smiling and staring at everything around him. Soon, I had forgotten the movie entirely. I was too busy watching my Dad, now a grandpa, with his grandson on his knee.

Have you ever watched a parent or grandparent with their child? It is an amazing sight. I have never seen my mother or my father more relaxed, content, happy, than with the new grandbaby in their arms. He makes their faces light up, brings out the best in everyone who holds him. I think half an hour passed, and I've no idea what happened in the movie. Did Dad look like that when he held me as a baby? Was he so entranced by my presence? Did I bring him the same peace and joy?

Babies need to be held. If a baby doesn't get enough attention, it will die. We need warmth, comfort, human contact to survive. We must know that we are loved. That time spent on grandpa's knees in essential to our survival.

I cannot help but remember, with the baby in my arms, all of the times in the Bible when God is described as a Father tending His children. He is the doting parent, we are the babies held tenderly on his knees. I have never had a child of my own, but now I have glimpsed in a small part what it is like. I was entranced, pulled away from the flashy allure of Hollywood special effects, by the simple sight of my father holding his grandbaby.

We are that to God. We are the wonderful miracle he holds on his knees, makes silly faces at, gently caresses and balances as we bounce around on weak legs. He holds us with such care, paying attention to our every need, every squeak and squeal and grunt of displeasure or cry of joy. God watches us as closely as my sister watches her baby, knows the exact meaning of every sound and face we make, is entranced by our presence.

Wow. To be loved so gently, so tenderly, and so thoroughly is an amazing gift. It is, for me, proof of God. Evolution has no need of love, no interest in compassion or mercy or caring. Survival of the fittest cannot cater to emotions, cannot sympathize with pain. If we are nothing but a collection of cells, why do we care so much for each other? Why are we so entranced by the sight of a baby, why do we love to care for something that can give nothing in return?

It is not the most flattering of comparisons, to be called children. Children make messes, they cry and complain and have to be cleaned up after. They are simple, fragile creatures in need of much care, and much love. Most people want to be adults, want to rush ahead to the time when they can take care of themselves, make their own decisions, they want to be smarter, stronger, with no need of parents.

But God has told us to be like little children. Often preachers tell us that this means we need to be childlike in our faith, acknowledge that we are dependent on God, believe without questioning. Yet we also need to become like children so that we can remember what it was like to be a Grand Baby. Not everyone has had a happy family life, I know, but we all need that feeling of sitting on a parent's knees. We need to know that God is totally absorbed in us, watching our every move, amazed at the things that we do and loving every minute he spends with us. Just like my dad and his grandson.

You are loved. Compared to God's infinity, a hundred-year-old is still an infant. For God, we will never outgrow that cute baby stage. We are young and impetuous, we make mistakes and have a lot to learn. But we are loved. Loved more deeply than we can ever imagine. Remember that, know it deep down in the core of your soul. It is essential to your survival. God made you so he could love you.

Wow.