Category Archives: Children

I hear you.

Posted on by

I’ve heard wives complain about husbands snoring and husbands objecting to wives’ breathing machines, but there are no more stressful nighttime sounds than those of a newborn. Every parent is on red-alert that first night, listening to their baby sleep, stunned by how noisy he/she is. It’s as if the baby has spent 9 months developing an extensive repertoire of sound effects she then begins to reveal the minute mommy and daddy turn out the lights.

Snort. Squeak. Squawk. Squeal.

It’s a sleepless night to be sure, and even those moments of quiet become cause for concern. (I remember putting a mirror in front of newborn Nelson’s nose to see if he was still breathing.) But God has made babies far sturdier than they first seem. As we look at a fragile-looking infant not yet 24 hours old, it seems illogical to think she’ll probably live to see 100.

In the hours after Monday’s home birth, the two highly experienced midwives took care of mother and baby in every way, educating the rest of us as they worked and chatted calmly throughout the emotionally charged circumstances. One of the midwives said, “No need to worry about those middle-of-the-night baby noises. She’s just doing what comes naturally. It’s absolutely musical.”

That last statement stuck with me. There’s a mile-wide gap between “is he breathing” and “isn’t it musical.” I wonder if that’s what it’s like with God. We squawk about our troubles and snort about life being unfair. Might this sound like music to God’s ears?

Although he tells us he doesn’t like flat-out complaining and often arranges discipline for those who indulge in it, as we go through our days and months struggling with challenges and inequalities making a few sound effects along the way, the Lord just might be saying, “That’s all fine. It proves you’re still living and breathing.”

One thing I know for sure is that God is always glad to hear from us, whether it’s a squawk, a squeak, or a sensible prayer. Our every utterance is important to him, and there’s not a single noise he misses. Just as is true with Linnea, Adam, and their new baby, he loves us too much not to listen carefully, around the clock.

Little Autumn Faith has experienced a long list of radical changes from her world inside Linnea to her new world on the outside, a shock the likes of which won’t be equaled in her lifetime. So, freedom to do a bit of snorting and squealing is the least we can give her. And with God’s help, maybe her parents will soon be able to lie in bed without a smidgen of concern over her nighttime noises but instead be able to simply enjoy the music.

“It is good to praise the Lord and make music to your name, O Most High, proclaiming your love in the morning and your faithfulness at night.” (Psalm 92:1,2)

What’ll it be?

Posted on by

When a new baby is born, the parents’ first important task is to assign him or her a name. After that, short of an expensive court procedure, that decision will stand, all the way to the grave. Because the choice is up to mommy and daddy not baby, it’s an important job and should be approached with careful thought.

In biblical days, parents named their children after character qualities or mission descriptions. Once in a while they named them negatively. The Jabez of Old Testament fame, for example, was named “pain” because his birth was excruciating for his mother.

People who name their babies positive things hope they’ll grow up to be what they’ve been named: Charity, August, Grace, Noble, Joy. When named after a respected relative or friend, parents hope their child will emulate their namesake.

A name choice is important to a child but also to God. The names he chose for Jesus were descriptive of his life purpose: “Jesus” meant “Savior,” “Christ” meant “Messiah,” and “Emmanuel” meant “God with us.” Since God demonstrated how to name a baby, we ought to follow suit.

Nate and I named our seven children less meticulously than God did, but we did discuss each one thoroughly. None of our children’s names have negative meanings, and some honor family members. All came off a Swedish calendar, which we thought was clever, since we were both Swedish: Nelson Hamilton, Lars Kristian, Linnea Marta, Klaus Fredrik, Hans Tomas, Louisa Viktoria and Birgitta Mary.

Our daughter Linnea and her husband Adam have just gone through the process of naming their new baby, Autumn Faith. Wrapped up in her pretty name are several important things.

They named her Autumn because most of the momentous events of their lives together have happened in the fall: they committed to each other as boyfriend/girlfriend then, had a September wedding, learned they were going to become parents in the fall after experts said “never,” Linnea’s father’s illness and death occurred in the autumn with all 13 of us together, and nature dresses herself in extreme beauty during Linnea’s favorite season, fall.

Autumn’s middle name, Faith, will be a continual reminder to Linnea and Adam to live focused on all God can do, originating with his gift of faith to them and anyone else who desires it. As Linnea said, “We come to him with our hands open having nothing to offer, and he fills them.”

As we all get used to using Autumn Faith’s new name, we’ll be steadily praying she grows up to have the same strong faith in God that her name represents, not just in the autumn but in every season of every year.

Jesus Christ is… “a name far beyond any name that could ever be used in this world or the world to come.” (Ephesians 1:21)

Flight of Fantasy

Posted on by

Linnea and her family have lived in Florida for 8 years, 1200 long miles away from me. But it’s a lovely place to visit during a Midwestern winter, and because they live in the central part of the state, I got to fly into Orlando, an airport with many flight choices and good prices. My grandbaby is a week overdue today, and I’m thrilled to be part of the welcoming committee.

Orlando International is popular with families because of Disney World, destination of endless delights. And quite a few plane passengers begin their vacations the minute they board. Princess tiaras, Mickey Mouse ears, and “Cars” t-shirts abound, adding a playful atmosphere to basic air travel. Occasionally flight attendants will get in the spirit of things too, coaxing passengers to sing “M-I-C-K-E-Y…” and telling the kids how excited Cinderella is that they’ll be visiting her castle.

I remember my first trip to Disneyland in Anaheim, California (long before Disney World existed). It was the late 1950’s, and the much smaller theme park was big stuff to us. Entrance was under $2 (now $75), and our California cousins showed us a wonderful time.

Disneyland’s Main Street was lined with tantalizing shops that promised happiness with every purchase, and we begged our parents for Snow White toothbrushes and Tinkerbelle fairy dust. Leaving the park, our enthusiasm ran high for all things Disney. In the weeks that followed our California trip, however, other infatuations pushed Mickey and company to the back of our minds.

And that’s the thing. Out of sight often becomes out of mind, and not just for grade school kids.

We adults have the same problem. We might decide to read through the Bible in a year, then hit Leviticus and quit. Or maybe we attend a spiritual retreat and come away with 10 pounds of literature and a resolve to go deep with the Lord but then never empty our shopping bag. Or we become convicted during a sermon and promise to rout sin out of our lives, but after a few failures, we stop trying. Or we attempt to memorize Scripture but lose our zeal when the verses won’t stick.

Is it possible to maintain enthusiasm for something when we’d rather put it on the back burner? I think of Jesus, living a victorious life against tremendous odds and wonder how he accomplished it. Scripture gives the answer: he refused to stray very far from his Father. They partnered continually through prayer, sometimes all night long, and that collaboration was the key to his success.

Amazingly, we have the same option, not to be sinless, but to partner with the Father. Teaming with God is the key to successfully tussling with temptation, especially the temptation to quit trying. And if we turn away from him, the result is much like leaving Disneyland. Out of sight is out of mind.

The Father is out of sight, but may our partnership with him never be out of mind.

“Some people hear God’s Word “with enthusiasm, but the enthusiasm doesn’t go very deep. It’s only another fad, and the moment there’s trouble, it’s gone.” (Luke 8:11,13 The Message)