It’s been a hard day’s night...
and I been sleepin’...
well - not so much.
Teething always takes me by surprise. You’d think by the seventh baby, I’d take it in stride. But no – it’s always joltingly painful. For baby - and for Mommy & Daddy.
It’s such a hard thing to have compassion for. I mean, do you have any recollection of emerging teeth, aching & tender gums? The closest thing I can think of was when I had braces; but even then I just tossed back a handful of ibuprofen to relieve post-adjustment soreness. My oldest is about to get braces, and I’ve got loads of compassion stored up for him. But honestly, as I struggle with teething-compassion for Nekoda, at 3am I tend more toward wanting to chuck the baby out the window than soothe & comfort his wailing.
And yet here’s the weird thing I know to be true. It’s a necessary rite-of-passage, obviously in a physical sense...but also emotionally, as I bond with the little stinker. Why, oh why, does it take trials like this to draw us close to one another?
Such a strange phenomenon, that struggling thru rough times together actually increases our capacity for love & gratitude & tenderness.
A friend recently asked for prayer, for his grown newlywed son & daughter-in-law. He was anxious because they were going thru so many trials: cross-country moves, job search, mid-journey car trouble... My friend was really worried & upset about his boy! But hearing about it all, I thought, how perfect! What an excellent, bonding start for their marriage!!
I wrote to him:
It sounds like a WONDERFUL start...!!! Really, I'm being completely serious.
Kevin & I have personally experienced, and heard stories time & time again, of marriages that have bumpy beginnings, fraught with family struggles, financial strain, physical obstacles...that beautifully strengthen & bond the marriage covenant! As opposed to marriages that start easy-breezy, with extravagant weddings, opulent honeymoons, dreamy-steamy-fairy-land departures from the reality of typical life...and eventually end in divorce.
Just as the strain of caring for a newborn creates a lasting bond of love & commitment - so does the bumbling start to a marriage that is built on love, sacrifice, commitment - and not simply forged as a pursuit of self-gratifying pleasure, easy comfort, or unrealistic romantic ideals.
Yes, I will pray for the newlyweds... But mostly, I pray these trials will be like the sleepless nights & poopy diapers with a newborn, that somehow, inexplicably bring a BOND of love & selfless devotion.
So I’m reminding myself, as I type this, to dig a little deeper for compassion, to cuddle Nekoda a little closer, and to trust that this season of teething will pass & I will sleep again someday. Above all, to hold onto hope, that this very trial will bring a closer bond, will further cement the overwhelming love I have for my baby boy.
Got any trials that are causing relationship strain?
Struggling to hope for that eventual, inexplicable bond...?
and I been sleepin’...
well - not so much.
Teething always takes me by surprise. You’d think by the seventh baby, I’d take it in stride. But no – it’s always joltingly painful. For baby - and for Mommy & Daddy.
It’s such a hard thing to have compassion for. I mean, do you have any recollection of emerging teeth, aching & tender gums? The closest thing I can think of was when I had braces; but even then I just tossed back a handful of ibuprofen to relieve post-adjustment soreness. My oldest is about to get braces, and I’ve got loads of compassion stored up for him. But honestly, as I struggle with teething-compassion for Nekoda, at 3am I tend more toward wanting to chuck the baby out the window than soothe & comfort his wailing.
And yet here’s the weird thing I know to be true. It’s a necessary rite-of-passage, obviously in a physical sense...but also emotionally, as I bond with the little stinker. Why, oh why, does it take trials like this to draw us close to one another?
Such a strange phenomenon, that struggling thru rough times together actually increases our capacity for love & gratitude & tenderness.
A friend recently asked for prayer, for his grown newlywed son & daughter-in-law. He was anxious because they were going thru so many trials: cross-country moves, job search, mid-journey car trouble... My friend was really worried & upset about his boy! But hearing about it all, I thought, how perfect! What an excellent, bonding start for their marriage!!
I wrote to him:
It sounds like a WONDERFUL start...!!! Really, I'm being completely serious.
Kevin & I have personally experienced, and heard stories time & time again, of marriages that have bumpy beginnings, fraught with family struggles, financial strain, physical obstacles...that beautifully strengthen & bond the marriage covenant! As opposed to marriages that start easy-breezy, with extravagant weddings, opulent honeymoons, dreamy-steamy-fairy-land departures from the reality of typical life...and eventually end in divorce.
Just as the strain of caring for a newborn creates a lasting bond of love & commitment - so does the bumbling start to a marriage that is built on love, sacrifice, commitment - and not simply forged as a pursuit of self-gratifying pleasure, easy comfort, or unrealistic romantic ideals.
Yes, I will pray for the newlyweds... But mostly, I pray these trials will be like the sleepless nights & poopy diapers with a newborn, that somehow, inexplicably bring a BOND of love & selfless devotion.
So I’m reminding myself, as I type this, to dig a little deeper for compassion, to cuddle Nekoda a little closer, and to trust that this season of teething will pass & I will sleep again someday. Above all, to hold onto hope, that this very trial will bring a closer bond, will further cement the overwhelming love I have for my baby boy.
Got any trials that are causing relationship strain?
Struggling to hope for that eventual, inexplicable bond...?
