Belonging

Belonging

Listening to Nicky Gumbel from Alpha's talk reminding us that our Heavenly Father has a Home with many rooms and has personally prepared a place for us, I thought of the importance of knowing that there is a place prepared for us that gives us a sense of acceptance and belonging…

This week when I was reading stories to my grandchildren, my granddaughter was sitting snugly at my side and my two year old grandson kept jumping up from his space and standing next to the couch, asking 'Where is my space Ouma?' and I kept patting the place next to me on the other side saying 'here is your space...' and he kept running to 'his space' and jumping onto it and cuddling me for a while half listening to the story I was reading before he jumped up again and asked the same question over and over again and I repeatedly reassured him that I will always have a place for him just like he has a special place in my heart and he kept saying ‘thanks Ouma’ each and every time he sat in ‘his place’
.
When we have ‘pretend afternoon naps’ while Mama is working in her bedroom come office and my granddaughter invites my grandson and I to have a little sleep with her, we all cuddle up together in ‘our spaces’ with me in the middle so there is no overstepping their ‘invisible boundary lines’! haha and when my daughter, granddaughter and grandson climbed on the top of my granddaughter’s loft bed for cuddles, my granddaughter invited me up as well to join them making a special place for me in her palace or castle whichever she chooses to call it because sometimes she is queen of the castle and sometimes she is queen of the jungle, depending on where she is at… :O)
I felt so warmly welcomed and I could feel her love for me as I scuttled up the stairs into my space right next to her so we could balance out the weight of the bed.
Our ‘together time’ on top of her bed below lifted my spirit and by the time we all climbed down because my grandson was becoming wriggly and being wiggly at that height isn’t what would be considered safe by a Mama and Ouma, the space in my heart that these three human beings occupy was full and much like we have to have petrol in our car’s tank, we need our emotional tanks filled up to function well.

We all need a sense of belonging…

It is so important to have a sense of belonging and I hope these two precious children just like my own two precious children know that no matter where I am – they belong
because I love them so much
and I am so grateful that I know I belong to Jesus and that He is preparing a place for me.
His promise stands firm
that He will return
to fetch me
and take me Home
to where He is
and I trust Him to bring my ‘babies’ Home to where we are when their time comes to come Home
as well
because I have entrusted them to Him
and He is well able to take care of who I entrust to Him.

—
Brenda.ps23©