I heard a story today of a father who was awakened in the middle of the night by his baby daughter’s screams. He rose from his bed and found her in her crib, diaper gone and a dirty mess everywhere, including smeared over his little girl.
He immediately grabbed her from the crib, kissing her forehead, and whispering to her, carried her to the bathroom where he ran a bath. Holding his daughter, he continued soothing her while waiting for the water temperature to be just right. He then placed her in the tub and bathed her.
With the bath finished, he wrapped her in a blanket and laid her with her mom then went to the girl’s room and cleaned the mess. He wiped down the wall, washed the crib, changed the sheets, found a clean blanket and when he was done, retrieved his daughter.
Again he soothed her with kisses and whispers as he placed her back in her crib, clean, dressed, and comforted.
As I listened to this story, I was impressed with the amazing love this father had. He could have waited until morning to clean up the mess—it was late in the night. He could have gotten his wife to help him. But he sacrificed his self, for his wife and his daughter. He held his daughter close, even when smeared with the mess.
Then I realized how my Father is with me. He never said, “Go clean your mess, then I will hold you.”
No. Scripture tells us, “While we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.” (Romans 5:8) He reached into my mess, and yours, pulled us close, soothed with His words, washed, hugged, held, and kissed until we were calmed by His words of life.
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