Me and My Aching Back have been hobbling around our building and grounds here on vacation on the West Coast for a couple of days. Our almost two-year-old granddaughter loves leading the way on our walks. She has the paths committed to memory now. 

This morning after breakfast, she decided she wanted relief from ambulatory excursions. Her grandmother, well acquainted with my bent stature, aches and pains and such, typically hefts her up and away they go full of mirth and merriment. However, my bride awoke today with her own back pain. So, Yours Very Truly grimaced and groaned and enjoyed the not-so-lightness of our granddaughter’s being. 

It was worth every twinge. She ran the last steps toward her parents’ room to see her Mommy and Daddy. She slept in our room last night. The delights of her babbles and songs as she drifted into dreamland were precious beyond joy. Her awakening expressions this morning were more delightful still. Her savoring breakfast of assorted fruits both tropical and ordinary along with eggs and toast was a sight to behold with smiles and laughter.

Is there anything better than holding a happy grandchild?

Just so you know, this is how God holds us. We are as precious to him today as we were when he dreamed us up in eternity past. He loves us now and will love us forever. We walk with purpose and run with freedom underneath his loving smile. When our backs wear down and our strides grow shorter, when we cannot bear our own weight, he gently lifts us in his everlasting arms as we did our babies, and our baby’s babies. 

A woman walked alone just out of the reaching tide. Her footprints memorialized her path. I couldn’t help remembering the poem about the one set of footprints where there should have been two. In those moments where we can only see that one set, so the poem goes, it is there when God carries us. 

King David had this idea first, or pretty close to it. Having been carried more times than he could recount, he said what we can say along with him, “Lead (me) like a shepherd, and carry (me) in your arms forever.”

Amen. 

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I will carry on until only God can carry me.

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Our Father, I pray with my namesake. Carry me. Carry us. Lead us all the days of our lives. Lead us on home when the proper time comes. We belong to you. Amen.