Posts Tagged: babies

“A WELCOMING FACE”

On October 9, 2018 by Dteb With 0 Comments - down to earth believer

A twelve-step friend, Sean, gave me a wonderful word of encouragement after the meeting this past Saturday.  He said to me, “You are always smiling.”

“Well,” I replied, “I’m not sure about that, but thanks!”  Then I added, “I don’t think of myself as having a very nice smile.  I look in the mirror and frown.  That, of course, makes me look even older and uglier.  Maybe I just need to stop looking in the mirror.”

And then, Sean said, “Well, I think you have a very welcoming face!”

Oh, my—“a welcoming face”!  I had never heard that expression before!

It’s a good expression, isn’t it?  I hope that Sean is right about me.  I certainly want him to be right.

Of course, I don’t always have a welcoming face.  Sometimes my face is harsh or judgmental or just plain closed off.  My face, like the rest of me, is a work in progress.  Still, I am profoundly grateful that someone experiences my face as welcoming.

So, how does a person cultivate a welcoming face?

Let me ask you a simpler question: How does a baby learn to smile?  I suppose that the answer is that a baby learns to smile by watching others smile.  And, of course, it is easy to smile at a baby, isn’t it?

Perhaps I’ve learned to have a welcoming face because others have given me their own welcoming faces.  Some, particularly my wife, have done this in spite of the fact that I have so frequently been frightfully cruel to them in the past.  A welcoming face is a gift that has been given to me by others, before I could give it to others.

Ultimately, I believe that God has the most welcoming face in the universe.  Perhaps that is what is meant by the expression in Numbers 6:25.  As part of the priestly blessing, Aaron and his descendants are told that they are to say to the Israelites, “May the LORD make his face shine on you.”  Perhaps God’s “shining face” is another way of speaking of God’s welcoming face.

But please notice an aspect of this that I frequently forget: The reference to the LORD’s welcoming face is immediately followed by the blessing of God’s grace.

God does not have a welcoming heart and face because we are so wonderful.  God has a welcoming heart and face because God is so wonderful.

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“ON BEING A SURROGATE FATHER TO A SMALL BALL OF FUR”

On October 27, 2017 by Dteb With 0 Comments - down to earth believer

“Oh God, please help me to become the man that my dog thinks that I already am!”  (The prayer of an honest man.)

“Then God said, ‘Let us make human beings in our image, to be like ourselves. They will reign over the fish in the sea, the birds in the sky, the livestock, all the wild animals on the earth, and the small animals that scurry along the ground.’

 So God created human beings in his own image. In the image of God he created them; male and female he created them.

 Then God blessed them and said, ‘Be fruitful and multiply. Fill the earth and govern it. Reign over the fish in the sea, the birds in the sky, and all the animals that scurry along the ground.’ ” (Genesis 1:26-28)

We now have a very small puppy.  I feel that old pride, fear, and solicitude that I used to feel for our children when they were babies.  I wish that I had continued to feel those feelings, and that I had acted accordingly as our children grew.

Our six-week-and-one-day-old puppy is going to help me get up early in the morning on a more consistent basis.  She awakened me—and my wife, of course—at about 3:18 a.m.  So, she is with me now in the study—the dog, that is.  (My wife has gone back to bed.)  The dog is sleeping in her cage, while I work at my desk and listen to WGUC.  3:18 a.m. is early, even for me.

Even though my wife did all of the heavy lifting with our children, I do remember some pretty sleepless nights.  Or, at least, some nights with sporadic sleep!  There is a reason why young people have babies.  Perhaps only young people should have puppies as well.

Our puppy is reacquainting me with some very basic, uncomfortable truths about myself.  The main reminder is this: I am a very selfish person.  This is not exactly a new revelation.  The truth is this: I have much more in common with our puppy than I have with you, God.  My dog and I are both your creatures.  We are both limited and full of ourselves.

God, you have made us human beings in your image.  Perhaps our rulership over creation is actually a matter of loving creation, and helping the rest of creation to become more than it is.  Perhaps (as C.S. Lewis thought), we are to raise even our pets to a higher level.

Perhaps.  But in order to do that, we/I need to be and become our own selves.  We/I need to be like you.  That was the original promise (or fact?), according to Genesis 1:27.  The original lie was that we needed to disobey God in order to really become like God (Genesis 3:5).  The promise (or fact?) was that we were like you.  Help us/me to live in the promise/fact, and not to buy into the lie.

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