Monday, August 6, 2012

Just to see you smile

I love music. I think most people do. Kole is one of those people. she responds to music, and I often find myself singing whatever song happens to pop into my head, since she appears to enjoy it. Songs about love play on this human jukebox pretty regularly. When I sing these songs to Echo, they take on a whole new shine. While meant to be taken romantically, I now can see them in a maternal light. a few of our favorites are "I don't want to miss a thing" by Aerosmith, "ours" by Taylor swift, and "a whole new world" by whoever sang it on Aladdin.
In the past couple days the song "just to see you smile" has been added to my repertoire. Whoever wrote this song must have known a mom. In order to make this beautiful gift from God smile, I do all sorts of crazy things, from using the hated baby voice, to making crazy faces, to singing "head and shoulders knees and toes" for the 385th time, to stopping in the middle of a task that was important in my past life to pick up a crying Echo and snarf like a pig in her neck folds. All things that would normally make me feel like an idiot to do (or admit!) But in order to make Echo smile, they seem  perfectly normal.
I received a book of poetry about babies as a gift. One of the poems talks about working hard to become the person God wants me to be, so I can be worthy of that baby's smile. That struck a chord with me. Every day I have these opportunitues to see just how much God has blessed me, and how little I deserve any of it, so grace is very real to me. I don't deserve to see those baby smiles, which showcase absolute confidence, total innocence, and boundless joy. Yet each smile is added to a long list of priceless blessings the Lord has poured freely into my life.
I also try to think of God as my parent in this. If I get such joy from my child offering up a smile, can I show my love for the Lord by  metaphorically smiling up at him?
have you heard smiles are contagious? I know that to be true, because I caught Echo's and I want to infect as many people as possible. I am seeing more clearly than I ever have that my example to live for Jesus should be a child.