“I love these little people. And it is

not a slight thing when they who are

so fresh from God, love us.”

–Charles Dickens–

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Cries in the Darkness

by Debbie Allen

As a mother, one of the greatest miracles I ever experienced in my life, was the beautiful act of giving birth to each of my three sons. Though it’s been over forty years ago since my youngest was born, few things in my life have compared to the experience of this miraculous moment!  I still remember the sweet sounds of each of my sons’ first cries; piercing my ears in the delivery room. Those cries always ushered in a look of great relief on my doctor’s face; before he stretched my son’s tiny squirming form out across my chest. I’ve never forgotten the incredible feeling of his tiny heartbeat racing against my own.  Drawing my newborn as close to me as I could, I knew from that moment forward; my life was never going to be the same.  My heart overflowed with the million little things I longed to one day share with this precious gift of love. However, my heart never imagined the immensity of all the things he’d be teaching me. 

Crying is every healthy, newborn’s first reaction to being pushed from his mother’s womb. Even as brand-new parents, Jim and I anticipated our son’s first cries. They were well-received inside the walls of the hospital delivery room.  But, our first night back home, it didn’t take us long to figure out why science labeled the cries of all newborn infants as biological sirens!  The joyous sounds we’d relished in the delivery room, suddenly mutated into ear-splitting cries in the darkness.  Cries equipped with the power to transform our peaceful home-front into a battle-front of sorts. That place where we engaged in a constant fight against sleep deprivation, and everything else that accompanied multiple responses to our baby’s needs all hours of the night!

Answering our son’s cries in the middle of the night, and fighting our way through those trenches of sleeplessness was no laughing matter.  I never imagined there was a level of exhaustion that could be so deep. Though sleep deprived nights proved to be a rigorous training ground for the first few weeks, eventually, the nightlife centered around my baby’s cries morphed into a new kind of normal. My routine didn’t change much, but my perspective shifted.  I began to see tiny miracles tucked inside those midnight runs to the nursery.  One night, half asleep, I scooped my little crier out of his crib to nurse him. In the stillness of those moments, the words of the doctor who delivered my son stormed back into my thoughts: “Y-e-s…” he’d spoken over my son’s first cries, “…these little wonders are wired for sound by God Himself!”  Though I’d given his words no thought at the time, now they captured my attention!

 A week later, at a doctor appointment, I asked Dr. Kirk what he’d meant by that statement. Grinning, he shared, “Humans naturally cater to their own needs; to a me-first mentality. One of the greatest of those needs is sleep. When a baby comes, unfortunately, that need doesn’t change. And if it were left up to moms and dads alone to wake themselves out of a dead sleep… babies might cry all night long. God had a better idea.  He equipped newborns, at birth, with the ability to cry at a decimal level so toxic to a parent’s brain; mom and dad will do anything to stop that sound.  It’s a sound that really can’t be ignored.”

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“God equipped newborns, at birth, to cry at a decimal level so toxic to a parent’s brain; mom and dad will do anything to stop that sound!”

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Hearing the truth behind my doctor’s explanation intrigued my young heart. I was in awe! With a vocabulary of one single word, “WAAAAAAHHHHHH!” my newborn son not only opened my eyes every night, but he also roused in me a deeper consciousness of just how intensely the Lord loves His children…both as newborns and as parents. By wiring newborns for sound the way He did, God in His wisdom, saved parents from themselves, as well as newborns from their parents! Perhaps on a deeper level, He even intended such noxiousness to rouse our sleepy spirits to see there are needs in this world much greater than our own…needs that really shouldn’t be ignored.

As time went on, I began to understand my son’s cries weren’t about the sleep I was losing…but the new insights I gained because of them.  Somewhere in-between his cries, my heart grasped another miraculous truth. The cries of my newborn were no less than God’s invitations to walk with Him in sacred places.  I began to see that every midnight trip I made down the hallway to the nursery, was really a promise to my son’s anxious heart that his cries were being heard; and my love would never fail him.  Pressed close to my heart while I nursed him, my son came to recognize my loving presence as the source of nourishment he could fully trust to satisfy the gnawing emptiness down inside of him. The thousands of miles I rocked him, caressing his tiny features, praying for fevers to break, singing over him and pacing the floor in the darkness while he cried; were all reflections to his innocent heart, that even though life was filled with struggles, our greatest Peace can still be found in the midst of our greatest storms.

As parents, our greatest desire for each of our infant sons was that they sensed through us; the reality of the Lord’s Loving Presence standing near to them on those sleepless nights. Even as newborn infants, Jim and I longed to introduce them to the cast-iron certainty of what it is to hear the encouraging Voice of the One Who Loves them most, Whispering down into their ears.  We prayed our sons would feel the comfort of Heaven’s Touch every time we embraced them in our earthly arms. And by God’s Grace, we hoped each of their tiny spirits somehow sensed the never-ending Faithfulness of the Lord’s Enduring Love surrounding them.

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“The righteous cry out and the Lord hears them.” (Psalm 310:17 NLT)

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So many things in life are intimately connected to our relationship with God, the Father.  Parenthood is no exception. Thanks to the miraculous way God wired my son’s cries, I came to know in a profound way, the beauty of walking in sacred places with my Heavenly Father. Every time I set my foot down beside my Father’s Foot in the darkness, it became a teachable moment for my young mother’s heart.  In the beginning, my desire was to become the perfect parent. But God envisioned something much greater for me. While I rocked my son back to sleep one night, I felt the rush of my Father’s Whispers telling me, “Stay like this little child.”  In the deep silence that followed, I pondered both His words and my son a little longer. I realized My Father, Who is the only Perfect Parent there will ever be; was asking me to consider the ways of my newborn son; and let them teach my heart how to Love Him even deeper.

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“His ears are open to their cries for help.” (Psalm 34:15b NLT)

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“Stay like this little child…” All of God’s children are called to love Him in this way. To love Him unreservedly, ‘with all our passion, prayer, muscle, and intelligence…’ (Luke 10:27 MSG). Like my newborn, we are not to be afraid to draw near to Him or cry out in the darkness that surrounds us. As we listen to the sounds of His Voice rising and falling in our ears, we come to know him as the One Who Loves us most.  His very Words speak Life down into us. They are the only trusted Source of Nourishment our soul needs.  The Father asks that we hear His Voice daily…listen to His Instruction…and walk in His Ways. Only then will our hearts come to know and trust in the Father’s Love without fear or reservation. 

Dearest Father in Heaven, I’m so thankful to be your child. Not only are You amazing, You do amazing things for us from our first breath to our last. From the moment You show us the way out of the darkness of our mother’s womb into the Light of Your Face, You are showing us the Way to Your Heart. Thank you, Father, for the gift of Your Whispers in my spirit so many years ago. I have both pondered them and treasured them my whole life long!  Now, Father, on a much grander scale…hear our cries in the darkness that surrounds us in both our nation and in this world. Open our spiritual eyes to see the greater needs of the helpless and respond. You are our only Answer!  You are our Father…we are Your children, those who never outgrow our need for Your Great Love. Help us to remember and remain faithful to the words You gave me so long ago: “Stay like this little child.”   Hear our cries and anoint us with the courage we need to act accordingly!

In JESUS name we pray, AMEN