May 25, 2011

How it feels to be Held…

As usual I’ve been doing a lot of pondering, thinking, praying and such since Jim’s back surgery and Camryn’s visit to the ER yesterday.


Life is fragile.

Every breath is a gift.


The fragility and preciousness of life reminds me of a Natalie Grant song called Held.  I can’t listen to this song unless I’m sequestered in a room with a box of tissues.

This is how it feels to be held…

How it feels when the sacred is torn and you survive…(Natalie Grant)



When the King of Kings and architect of the universe was born into the very world He held together, through a young Jewish virgin named Mary,


He was held…


Though it defies human reason, The Living God, known by such majestic names and titles as: Wonderful Counselor, The Word Become Flesh, Healer of the Nations, Emmanuel (God with us), the Prince of Peace, and so many others; endured the trauma of childbirth. And like all of us, made the grueling journey from the comfort and safety of the womb, to the shelter of His mother’s loving arms.



“While they were there, the time came for the baby to be born, and she gave birth to her firstborn, a son.  She wrapped him in cloths and placed him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn.” (Luke 2:6-7 NIV)



She held Him.



And He held the very hill He was executed upon in His hands…


Thirty-three years later the Father would once again have the Sacred torn on that Roman cross.  Was it the Father’s plan for His precious Son to die? To have the Sacred torn as a ransom for all mankind? To watch and weep from Heaven as His heart was torn?

And the Father watched…


As sinful hands held His Son…



Is it part of the Father’s plan to take the sacred from our lives just as the Sacred was torn from His life? I don’t think we will ever grasp “why” here on this earth. But thankfully, God has revealed Himself through the pages of His Word so that we can know Him rather than the answers to all our pressing pleas.   He is the answer to the why. We can trust Him with the loss we suffer, the tearing of the sacred, because He feels what we feel. He gets it. He knows what it feels like…


To be held.


When I held my firstborn daughter, Erin for the first time, I wept.  I could not comprehend how this child, so soft and beautiful came from me.  I lovingly explored every inch of her fresh little newborn body—just to make sure everything was okay—two hands, ten fingers, and ten toes.  As a mother, you know what I mean.  Our greatest fear as a parent is that something might be wrong with our child—something that we cannot fix; a hurt we cannot mend, a tear we cannot wipe away, a question we cannot answer.  I wonder if Mary felt that way? The Bible doesn’t reveal Mary’s emotions or thoughts when Jesus was born.  However, if we can be so bold—she was human.  She was a real person, just like you and me.  So I think it’s safe to speculate what Mary might have been thinking or feeling during those first few moments of her precious Son’s life.


Is He okay? Ten fingers, ten toes—will He be healthy?  Will He be a handful or a compliant youngster?


What did Jesus’ cry sound like? Just as we can recognize our own infant’s cry in the midst of hundreds of other cries, Mary knew the cry of her Son, the Savior.  How can we possibly comprehend that?  Try to imagine it with me for a moment…

What did it feel like to hold the Lamb of God?  To wipe His tears?


I’m sure the questions were endless.  Much like the many questions we as parents face in these uncertain times, Mary and Joseph must have pondered similar apprehensions—maybe less sophisticated, but just as frightening. But Mary “…treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart.” (Luke 2:19 NIV)


I think it’s fair to say that Mary treasured up all these things and held them in her heart—just as God holds us in so many ways…


God the Father sent His One and Only Son into the world as a baby…


…And He was held.


Held…


By corruptible, sinful hands but held none the less.


Held…


Jesus knew what it felt like to be held by His mother.


We too know what it’s like to be held.


We’re often comforted by hands that God has purposely placed in our lives to hold us.  During times of great need many hands often surround us not only in a physical sense but in a spiritual sense as well


And we are held…


…through prayer.


When my “sacred” one and only son, Hunter, was torn from my life…


I survived because…


I was held.


Held…


By the grace and love of God.


Held…


By the promise of an eternal life to come.


Held…


By the wounds of Christ that set me free.


Held…


To be held by the Father is to survive, and even more it is to triumph when the sacred is torn from your life.


The “sacred” is different things to different people.


But torn is torn and tears are tears in any language, circumstance, or relationship.


The loss of a marriage to divorce or death


The sacred bond between two people—forever broken.


The heart-wrenching death of a child.


The loss of a parent.


…All treasured and all sacred.


No matter the heartbreak; the emotional and spiritual damage are very real and at times debilitating.


It is in these fragile, gathered moments that make up life’s stormy seasons that…


You

are

held…


Held

in the very hands that fashioned you…


He knows your pain.


And He knows how it feels…


…to be held.




Whatever it is that you’re going through right now…I hope this reminds you that the One who loves you more than you can imagine is holding you.