Preparing the Nursery
Annalisa Smith, Guest Writer
Today’s Treasure
If there’s one thing I’ve learned as a mom, a teacher, and a coordinator of others who care for children, it is to think ahead. The needs of infants are so immediate, and the speed of toddlers is so incredible that there’s just no substitute for advanced preparation! I know it’s likely to be a rough day at the childcare center I manage if we don’t prepare the snacks before the children walk in the door!
As a new mother, this advanced preparation also seemed necessary for survival. I was anticipating my daughter’s needs throughout the day. Many of these tasks focused on her bodily needs – hunger, sleep, a clean diaper. And that little body, before she even developed speech, had tremendous value. I valued her as a very small person and delighted in her smiles and being.
In much the same way, God prepares for and anticipates our physical needs and knows those needs perfectly. He made us with physical bodies. Of all God’s creatures, humans are, in some ways, most resilient and, in other ways, most vulnerable. We have the reasoning skills to do amazing things, yet we are quite physically vulnerable to weather and injury.
Have you ever noticed the wise and intentional order of God’s creation of the world in Genesis 1? God created light, water, day and night, land and sea, sun, moon and stars, and living creatures of the sea, sky, and land. And then, God created humans last of all.
Some scholars have called Genesis 1 a description of how God “prepared the nursery” for humankind, setting up all the things ahead of time that His beloved children would need. Pastor and sixteenth-century Reformer John Calvin wrote that the order, diligence, and foresight exhibited here shows God’s “fatherly care”:
“Now when he disposed the movements of the sun and stars to human uses, filled the earth, waters, and air with living things, and brought forth an abundance of fruits to suffice as foods, in thus assuming the responsibility of a foreseeing and diligent father of the family he shows his wonderful goodness towards us.”
The story of creation shows God’s care and provision for our physical needs in many ways. It’s not just our hearts or minds that are important to Him. As a parent, I care for my daughter’s physical needs and see every inch of her as precious. I take joy in the shape of her tiny lips and the feel of her honey-brown hair. As a mother, I’ve also felt more aware of my physical body and its limits. Lack of sleep, bending over to pick up small children and hastily eaten meals all take their toll. I don’t always respond kindly to my own limitations, but the Lord knows how fragile we are. To what extent can you grasp that your physical body has importance to your Father, God? He anticipates your needs and sees you as precious.
Whether your limits come through age, pain, physical disability, mental illness, or fatigue, God made us as embodied beings – our bodies are important to him, and he cares for them with compassion.
As a father shows compassion to his children, so the LORD shows compassion to those who fear Him. For He knows our frame; He remembers that we are dust.
Psalm 103:13-14
Going back to the story of beginnings in Genesis 2, of course, God knows how we are made. He remembers we are put together in a way that is limited and finite: He made the first man from dust!
…then the Lord God formed the man of dust from the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living creature.
Gen 2:7
The God who made Adam and Eve out of dust is aware of and compassionate toward our human limitations. In the same way we show compassion toward children in their physical limitations and near-constant needs, God shows compassion toward us. He knows what we need. And in much the same way as we wash clothes and prepare meals, we know our families will need before the moment they need it, He is ahead of us. He’s caring for our needs before we know them ourselves. And He’s not a bit surprised by how “needy” we are. He’s the one who made us from dust and delights to compassionately help us.
LIFE-GIVING ENCOURAGEMENT
As you wake up in the morning, take a moment to think about how God might anticipate your physical needs today or ask Him to do so. Try to notice how He has prepared creation to meet our needs. And as you look in the mirror today, can you see that person as someone for whom God has deep compassion?
PRAYER
Dear Father, You made my body, and You care for all of me. You see me and my limits with compassion and provide for me. Help me see Your provision and care and know that it is from You. Amen.
