Bear Hugs

 

After a recent youth group retreat, on which I was a chaperone, many of our church members tested positive with the dreadful Covid-19 virus. It spread quickly through our group and was a muddy end to a wonderful week.  Thankfully, the cases were all mild, but unfortunately, my Abbey was one of the first in the group to get sick. So upon returning home, we immediately went into quarantine mode. 

 

That quarantine meant that our grands, who live across the street, were unable to come in and out of our door fifty times a day, per their usual routine. Technology and loud mouths to the rescue—we FaceTimed daily and yelled to each other across the yard to stay connected all week. 

 

One evening, about dark, I heard a knock on the door. Abbey answered it to see Swayze (7) standing there. 

 

“I need to see Granna, please.” I heard her little voice quivering. 

I got up and went outside on our porch where she was waiting, to almost be knocked down by her little arms grabbing me around the waist in the biggest, sweetest bear hug I think I've ever gotten.

She had reached her limit of days away from her Granna—the seven days we were gone to camp plus the four days (at that point) we had been quarantined on our return. She had just gone long enough without the physical touch she craved from me. We stayed in that embrace for several minutes.  Once she felt ready to let go again, she ran off to happily play in the yard.  

 

It was a precious, precious moment for me. 

I later thought about how that made me feel—wanting to be wanted, needing to be needed. We are all wired for those emotions, aren’t we? How much more must the Lord feel that way about His children?! How often do we go days on end without reconnecting with God?

 

Technology may temporarily soothe our short attention spans, but it does not fill the hole in our souls that are only satisfied with a deep and personal relationship with the Lord.  

If you have been in quarantine from your reconnection time with the Lord and running around doing a million other things besides talking to Him, reading His word, or just being quiet before Him, maybe today is a good time to stop and knock on His door again.  

 

I promise He will embrace you with the biggest bear hug your heart can know.  

 

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