Because He Holds Me

    The other day, Stitch and Little Sister were having a conversation.  Now, if you are a parent or teacher or anyone else who spends a lot of time around little kids, you know that their conversations can be very interesting!  And also sometimes surprisingly profound. 

     They were talking about family relationships, and who loves whom, and why they love the other people in our family.  So, Little Sister says, "Well, do you know why I love Daddy?"  Stitch replied with, "Because he's Daddy, of course!" (In a tone of superior knowledge...)  And she answers him right back (in her own tone of superiority!), "No!  Because he holds me!" 

    I smiled to myself and later posted a little funny report about it on Facebook, and didn't really think about it much more at that moment.  But it wouldn't leave me.  I kept hearing it in the back of my mind over the next couple of days.  And the more I thought about it, the more I realized that it was such a pure and simple expression of faith. 

    You see, Little Sister has faith that Daddy will always be able to hold her.  She doesn't think that one day she will be too big, or that Daddy might be too old.  She just knows that right now, this day, he can hold her.  She can run to him and he will scoop her up and make her feel safe and loved. 

    This must be the faith that Jesus was talking about when He told the disciples about the faith of a child.  This must be the kind of faith that God the Father wants us to have in His ability to hold us.  But we "grow up."  We think we have to catch ourselves, or make a plan, or maybe just not fall in the first place.  We forget to trust in our Heavenly Father just because He holds us.  Our circumstances overwhelm us, and we forget.

     Unlike earthly fathers, God will always be there for us.  He won't leave us, abandon us, or forget us.  He's never not paying attention to us, or too busy to see what we have going on.  He will hold us.  And we can love Him for so many things, but most especially that.  We can love Him because He holds us!  Or, in His own Words, "We love Him because He first loved us."  :)