I Wanna Bend It Like Bailey

Today's guest devotion is by Sandra D. Bricker, from: His Grace is Sufficient…Decaf is Not © 2011 Summerside Press

I Wanna Bend It Like Bailey

But seek ye first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you.

Matthew 6:33

I adore children, and my favorite age is right around three or four; they’re just developing their communications skills, but haven’t quite perfected the transition from emotion to verbalization.

            

While babysitting for a friend’s three-year-old, I encountered the challenge of keeping Bailey occupied so that she might forget that her beloved mommy had left the house without her. And it wasn’t easy.

            

First, we played Safari. After strategically placing all of her most treasured stuffed animals around the house, Bailey put on a plastic pith helmet and climbed aboard her push-and-ride Jeep and we toured the African plains of home to observe the animals in their natural habitat. When she spotted the giraffe leaning against the refrigerator, Bailey suddenly remembered who had given her that giraffe, and she started to cry for her mother.

            

Several games and a coloring book later, she accepted my invitation to a tea party in her bedroom. We donned straw hats, and Bailey tugged on little white crocheted gloves. Along with two of our very best doll friends, we sipped from empty tea cups and munched imaginary scones with cream and strawberries. Bailey was enthralled!...Until the garage door went up. Tossing the plastic teacup to the floor, she flew from the bedroom and down the hall. On her trail, I stepped over her hat and gloves that she’d shed on the way. I reached her just as the kitchen door opened and her mother walked in.

            

So excited to see her mom again at last, Bailey squealed with glee. When the words wouldn’t come, she finally began hopping from one foot to the other, pumping her arms, fists clenched, and her little face contorted. The return of her mother had trumped everything else, and thoughts of tea parties and safaris had fallen to dust. I stood there watching as the child completely surrendered to the ecstatic happiness of seeing the one person that meant more to her than anything or anyone else.

             

On the drive home that afternoon, I tuned my radio to a local Christian station playing I Can Only Imagine by MercyMe, a song exploring the depths of our reaction when we finally see Christ face-to-face. As I sang along, Bailey’s reaction to her mother’s return home sprang to mind. How sweet would it be to the Lord if, at His presence, we just jumped up and down with the glee of little children!

Today’s Prayer: Oh, Lord, thank You for the sweet parenthood You offer us. Let me always see You as Abba Father, through enthusiastic and childlike eyes. Today I am overcome with joy as I delight myself in You, remembering that Your arms always welcome me, Your thoughts are always about my well-being, and there is no one else I would rather see. Amen. 

Sandra D. Bricker is an award-winning best seller in the inspirational market with laugh-out-loud novels such as Love Finds You in Snowball, Arkansas and Always the Baker, Never the Bride from the Emma Rae Creation series. She spent 15+ years in Los Angeles as an entertainment publicist while studying screenwriting. However, when her mother became ill in Florida, she left all that behind to take on a couple of new roles: Caregiver and Novelist. Visit her Website at www.SandraDBricker.com