Hearing A Cry

In the span of a month, four of our six grandchildren have their birthdays.
The oldest one will soon be six-years-old.
The youngest one will soon be six-months-old.
The four birthdays, happening in a month’s time, all happen to be granddaughters.

The April birthday girl just turned four-years-old.
The May birthdays will be turning five, two, and six-years-old respectively.
Four little girls, six and under, are a joy to see.
Princesses, unicorns, dress-up clothes, necklaces, and bracelets are the way of things, it seems.

There was a “few days before her birthday” party for the soon to be five-year-old.
It was a mermaid party with a wonderful pin the tail on the mermaid game.
My son and daughter-in-love made starfish wands out of sticks gathered from outside.
The construction paper starfishes, on the end of the stick, made the wand complete.

No store bought wand could have brought the girls more pleasure.
The girls played in the basement for a while before lunch.
Amid gleeful screams and giggles, they avoided the lava that was apparently on the floor.
As they maneuvered around toys on the floor, they were safe from the hot lava on their feet.

They had pizza and fruit salad for lunch.
Apple juice was the drink of choice.
Ice cream cake was for dessert after a wonderful rendition of, Happy Birthday.
The birthday girl kept saying, This is the best day ever!

I got to hold another baby girl who was there with her mommy and older sister.
Of course, my little almost two-year-old granddaughter was on my other knee.
There’s always room on Grandma’s lap, I told her.
After opening presents, seven little girls went back down the basement to resume their play.

As the adults were talking in the living room, someone was crying.
Right away, my son knew that it was his littlest daughter, and he went down to get her.
Nothing major had happened.
It’s hard to be almost two and keep up with the bigger girls.

A few minutes later, another cry was heard.
My daughter knew which of her four children it was, as she went to them.
I sat amazed.
I remembered.

You can always tell the cry of your child from all the others.
You can always tell the sound of you child’s voice above all the rest.
If a group of children are up on stage at a school concert, you can always spot your child.
You know their footsteps, their voice, their silhouette, and most importantly, their cry.

You have searched me, Lord,
    and you know me.
You know when I sit and when I rise;
    you perceive my thoughts from afar.
You discern my going out and my lying down;
    you are familiar with all my ways.
Before a word is on my tongue
    you, Lord, know it completely.
You hem me in behind and before,
    and you lay your hand upon me.
Such knowledge is too wonderful for me,
    too lofty for me to attain…
For you created my inmost being;
    you knit me together in my mother’s womb.
I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made;
(Psalm 139:1-6, 13, 14)

God created us and knows us intimately.
God knows our cry and every word we say, even before we say it.
God knows our thoughts.
God knows the number of hairs on our head.

When I watched the parents respond to their child’s unique cry, I thought of God the Father.
God hears each of us distinctly and uniquely.
God knows our voice, our cry, and our heart with its unspoken longings.
God is a tender and attentive Father.

How very blessed we are.

2 responses to “Hearing A Cry”

1. What a fun day! How blessed you are (we all are) to have these moments with our loved ones! And it is beyond our comprehension that our loving God knows us all so well and loves each of us.

   Reply

   • Amen, Sue, we are blessed indeed.
     Gina

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