I met my great niece today. With a full head of dark hair and shiny bright eyes, Annaleigh Faith was born Wednesday morning after a harried and hurried trip to the hospital–she arrived about a minute after her mama got there (and with that, I believe the story of our own daughter’s birth twenty-three years ago is trumped in the family annals, in terms of high drama! The only detail for which we may still hold the storytelling edge is that we fled for the hospital in the wee hours of the morning, leaving our door wide open and our sleeping 19-month-old alone, not having time to wait for the neighbor who was on her way across our apartment complex to come and care for him!)
Great-Gramma (my mom) held this precious little bundle for the first time and the cameras were clicking. While Mom was holding Annaleigh, the baby’s daddy spoke from across the room and the most amazing thing happened. That little person, only four-days-launched into the big world outside the womb, turned her head in the direction of that voice. A little later I saw her do the same thing when her mama began speaking from a different location in the room. At this very tender age, that little one, who has been hearing those voices for the past nine months, sorts them out from the cacophony of other voices (we do tend to all talk at once in my extended family!) and lets her eyes be led in those directions.
That is such a clear picture of how I think God would have His own dear children be. Jesus referred to us as sheep and said, “My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me.” Have I been listening so closely all along that I can distinguish that loving voice from all others? Do I turn loving, expectant eyes in the direction of that voice when I do hear it?
congrats aunty. And, what a beautiful reminder to listen and turn, to pay attention to the Voice of the One who created us and “knows all of our days, even before one of them came to be.”