The Baby In You

Today we get to babysit our grandson Liam. He is very close to 3 months old. He is a cutie. It is an interesting study in human nature right now though. He seems to only have two states. He is either satisfied or terribly dissatisfied. When he is satisfied, he really doesn't have very many ways to demonstrate that satisfaction. He simply looks content and is quiet. Sometimes he gives a little baby chatter but he is still pretty manly in his use of verbiage which means it is pretty limited. When he is dissatisfied, he has an even smaller repertoire to communicate his feelings. He has the preliminary to the cry which is pretty cute until the noise begins. His face begins the exaggerated down turn, which is really quite impressive. Sometimes I wish I could still do that. It would scare people around the office if I showed my displeasure with that face. And then the sound comes and there is no doubt as to how Liam is feeling about life. He doesn't like it and if things don't change soon someone is going to have a headache. Imagine if screaming till your face looked like a tomato was your only way to express displeasure. You would be sitting in traffic and as far as you could see in your rear view mirror there would be blood red faces all puffed out. The last guy in line would just be beginning the scary pre-cry face. I have no doubt that Liam is just a normal baby. Normal, in the negative categories and way above average in the good categories. Liam's human nature is without any pretense right now. He has no way to mask his self-centeredness. He has no skill in manipulating people subtly. He is just out there for all the world to see. Deep down I would suppose at times I am very much like Liam. I am more subtle in expressing my dissatisfaction. I think the more self centered I am the more like Liam I become. I tend to be quietly content and loudly dissatisfied. I think one of the things Jesus comes to do is help me reverse the natural tendency. Jesus said,"I come so that you might have joy and have it to the full". Today I encourage you to work on reversing the tendency. Let joy flow out and your contentment be loud and let your discontentment be a little quieter. I find the more I look to serve others, the more I look to serve Jesus, the easier it is to be a real grown up.