A Mothers Day Dad Considers The Babe In Swaddling Clothes

by Scott MacBradaigh Swires

written at 4:52am, Mothers Day, 1010

I woke to a familiar sound. At 3AM, in the midst of howling winds, I could hear the soft sound of Selah crying. It’s Mother’s Day, so I decided to be a proactive Father. You have to a proactive Father on Mother’s Day. I used my sneaky skills acquired by many years of training in GoldenEye, Splinter Cell, and Ghost Recon, to quietly leave my wife in bed while I, Proactive Father, saw to Selah.

I fed the child, burped the child, fed the child, burped the child, and attempted to lay child down. It was at that moment that Selah reminded me that I didn’t have a pacifier. So I fed the child, burped the child, but the child was squirming way too much. So I decided to swaddle the child. It was at the moment that Selah demonstrated that a one month old is far more capable of motion than a one week old. She likes to fight the swaddle, even though she’ll eventually thank me for it. She is strong for a one month old, so I need to make her swaddles extremely tight, binding her arms at her sides, so she doesn’t keep herself awake. More than once I thought of the meaning of her name, David asking the reader of the psalm to stop and reflect on Him.

And then something hit me as I held the left arm, tucked the blanket, held the right arm, tucked the blanket, and then repeated the process until I finally had her in that blanket. Holy Spirit decided to let me know that He was in the room. We may say that we are prepared to be surprised, but God always seems to catch me off guard. Instantly I had a vision of a manger and tiny child swaddled. That’s the first time I had ever heard the word “swaddle”. I saw our Lord, tucked away in a piece of linen and had a weird thought,” What kind of god allows Himself to be swaddled like that, completely bound by a piece of cloth.”

Ours does. Our God allows Himself to be stripped of all glory and bound for our sake. Bound by a piece of cloth. Bound by Roman soldiers on the way to His death. Bound by oaths and promises to people who will never deserve them. What an amazing and loving God to allow Himself to be placed in such a state.

It’s now 4:40AM. Selah has found her peace again and I’ve regained mine. What a God we serve. Do yourself a favor today. Prepare to be surprised.

Selah

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