A Calming Place

O LORD, my heart is not lifted up, my eyes are not raised too high;   

I do not occupy myself with things too great and too marvelous for me.

But I have calmed and quieted my soul, like a weaned child with its mother;  

my soul is like the weaned child that is with me.

O Israel, hope in the LORD from this time on and forevermore.

Psalm 131

I love this Psalm, but why, I have wondered, a weaned child, when a mother and nursing child seem the essence of intimacy? Then it hit me. A weaned child is not in his mother’s arms out of necessity. She is not there to satisfy hunger pangs. He does not need to be carried from place to place. She doesn’t have to have comfort, but, oh, she wants to be sheltered. In her mother’s arms, she can calm and quiet his soul.

Some days our hearts are naturally lifted up. Sometimes it is good to raise our sights high. We may be awed at times to contemplate things “too great and too marvelous” for us to comprehend fully. But when our hearts are heavy, when the tasks before us seem overwhelming, when we are weary, we are welcomed into God’s arms, into God’s presence, to calm and quiet our souls. Our prayer may be simply, "Shelter me."

Occasionally a toddler will stay in his mother’s arms for a lengthy time. More often, the child is there for a few, very important moments of reassurance and then is off to run and play. When our souls are battered, we may need to rest in God at length, but, even when a day is going well, it is good to let loving arms embrace us for a moment of reassurance.

God’s peace,

Katie