Safe...like a hug
I got one of those forwards today that, you know, you've gotten a million times but you read anyway... It was "what love is" according to little kids. Yeah, it's cute, it's funny, it's probably all fiction...
One of them was:
"When someone loves you, the way they say your name is different. You just know that your name is safe in their mouth."
Billy - age 4
I don't care if Billy age 4 really said that or if sad, lonely Joe, age 41 wrote it in this email pseudopigraphically (heh) - I like what it says. "Your name is safe in their mouth."
There are some people that I don't want to hear call my name. An IRS agent, for one. Right now, our Bishop (it's changing churches season again...). There are a few people who just outright hate me, too, so I can only imagine what my voice sounds like coming from them...
And sometimes I don't like the tone of voice that the people I love use when they say my name... BUT - when even the people I love use a tone of voice that I'm sure I'm not going to like what they say, I still know that my name is safe in their mouth.
But what about God? Do I feel like my name is safe in God's mouth? I know God calls me - by name even. But why do I run away? Why do sometimes want to hide from God - from that voice that loves me more than I can ever even imagine being expressed?
Sometimes Elie runs away from me - especially at bedtime - or when she's done something she knows she not supposed to do. Sometimes I think it's just a game. She knows that she can't hide from me (well, there are times where she's getting better at it - but usually she'll just hold a pillow up over her head and pretend like the rest of her body doesn't exist...). So I chase her down - or sometimes I use my "Right Now" daddy voice... And then she comes to me. And she holds out her arms and I pick her up and she hugs my shoulder as we climb the stairs for bedtime. And I tell her how much I love her and I want to make sure that she knows that while I was not happy she ran away from me - I am so very happy that she came back and that she knows that her name is safe in my mouth. That she is safe in my arms.
Okay God - I guess I get it now - and I DO need a hug...
One of them was:
"When someone loves you, the way they say your name is different. You just know that your name is safe in their mouth."
Billy - age 4
I don't care if Billy age 4 really said that or if sad, lonely Joe, age 41 wrote it in this email pseudopigraphically (heh) - I like what it says. "Your name is safe in their mouth."
There are some people that I don't want to hear call my name. An IRS agent, for one. Right now, our Bishop (it's changing churches season again...). There are a few people who just outright hate me, too, so I can only imagine what my voice sounds like coming from them...
And sometimes I don't like the tone of voice that the people I love use when they say my name... BUT - when even the people I love use a tone of voice that I'm sure I'm not going to like what they say, I still know that my name is safe in their mouth.
But what about God? Do I feel like my name is safe in God's mouth? I know God calls me - by name even. But why do I run away? Why do sometimes want to hide from God - from that voice that loves me more than I can ever even imagine being expressed?
Sometimes Elie runs away from me - especially at bedtime - or when she's done something she knows she not supposed to do. Sometimes I think it's just a game. She knows that she can't hide from me (well, there are times where she's getting better at it - but usually she'll just hold a pillow up over her head and pretend like the rest of her body doesn't exist...). So I chase her down - or sometimes I use my "Right Now" daddy voice... And then she comes to me. And she holds out her arms and I pick her up and she hugs my shoulder as we climb the stairs for bedtime. And I tell her how much I love her and I want to make sure that she knows that while I was not happy she ran away from me - I am so very happy that she came back and that she knows that her name is safe in my mouth. That she is safe in my arms.
Okay God - I guess I get it now - and I DO need a hug...
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