God Heard the Baby
Waiting patiently for our pediatrician to come into our room for El's 2 and half year old check-up, we heard a teeny-weeny baby cry, followed by a terrifying little, wheezing cough. Ellie looked at me with her concerned face and said,
"Baby sick, Mama? He coughing and crying."
I told her that not everyone is as blessed as she is to go to the doctor when they are well, sometimes we have to go when we get sick. She asked three more times about the sick baby as he listened to solemn diagnoses and mutterings of the words, "Emergency Room" and "Pneumonia". He couldn't have been older than 3 months old. Ellie rocked her check-up with no tears and a super exciting update of actually making it on the chart for her height and weight- we're now top 25th for weight, top 39th for height, people! That's a big deal considering our little peanut girl weight 22 lbs only 5 months ago. To celebrate, we went to our traditional "after doctor" Holsten's trip for some hot dogs, french fries and a huge black raspberry sundae that she ate all by herself. But it was clear during our lunch that she was still preoccupied. I packed her back into the car and she drifted off to sleep on the way home she suddenly called my name.
"MAMA!" She said excitedly, her big blue eyes shining.
"What, El?"
"Mama! God heard the baby. He knows the sick baby."
And then she fell asleep.
And then I cried the whole way home.
My daughter was so worried about the little, sick infant that we couldn't even see at the doctor's office, she hardly talked for an hour. But somehow, God spoke to her heart and assured her. The relief in her voice and in her face was remarkable.
I want to be just like her. So concerned with other folks that it's hard to eat an ice cream sundae. That when I get good news about them, my heart rejoices as though they were my own child, my own Mother, and myself. And I want to be as confident as she is. Notice how she didn't ask me if Jesus heard the little baby, she TOLD me He did. And she was filled with joy so much that her heart was finally able to rest and sleep.
I'm so amazed today that God picked me to be the Mama of this amazing little person. I'm overwhelmed with who she is now and who she will become. I can't wait to see what else she will teach me.