Ecclesiastes says there is a time for everything. The Lord has given us seasons…they come and they go. Sometimes we are so glad to see a season go..it has been hard and we are thankful to move on.
Other times we say goodbye to a season with sadness, wishing to grasp hold of it for yet a few more moments. We linger over it’s memory and would love to relive it.
I am in a change of seasons again. It is time to wean my precious baby. For physical reasons my body needs to be able to focus on rebuilding and restoring from pregnancy, childbirth and breastfeeding. And so at my dear, wise husband’s decision, we are beginning the process of weaning my precious ten month old, Matthew Henry.
(Let me just insert here, that I would appreciate charity in your responses. As a natural mama, I know the benefits of long nursing and that many might disagree with our decision, but for our family and situation this is what my husband feels right now is best.)
The difficulty is that my little one has no desire for food…unlike my other 6 children by this age, he doesn’t even want to being to eat baby cereal, mashed vegetables or even drink apple juice out of a bottle. So this shift comes with more trials than maybe in the past. My precious baby needs to be gently prodded to move on from the newborn milk to the strong meat.
I would appreciate prayers for this mama and my precious child (as well as the rest of the family) as we enter this new phase and seek to make this transition.
I love to nurse. Period. I love breastfeeding. I love the feeling of my little one suckling while he lays his little chubby hand against me. The sleepy look of delicious satisfaction as he pulls away with milk dripping out the corner of his mouth. I love the snuggling close and warm mixing of heartbeats…
And the older I get, I realize. This may be my last time. Maybe not, only the Lord knows. But the reality is clear that I will be 40 this summer and my childbearing season is drawing closer to an end. Will this be last moment that a child draws nourishment from me? And even if it is not, it is ending for this particular child. That makes me sad.
And yet, it is good for each one of my babies to move on from their mother’s breast to the strong meat. It causes them to grow, to flourish. I want them to mature, even if I try to grasp for a few moments again of those infant days.
And it makes me think about when the Scripture speaks of needing to move on from the milk of the word to the strong meat. In Hebrews 5 it says,
“For when for the time ye ought to be teachers, ye have need that one teach you again which be the first principles of the oracles of God; and are become such as have need of milk, and not of strong meat.13For every one that useth milk is unskilful in the word of righteousness: for he is a babe.14But strong meat belongeth to them that are of full age, even those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil.”
My Lord gives me the comforting milk of His word, and tenderly nourishes me to cause me to grow and flourish. And as I grow He calls me to go deeper, swallow richer truths that might be harder to bear. It would not be good for my soul to continue with the watered down milk of the word, but I must be challenged to grow and begin to plumb the depths of the wisdom that He has for me in His word. And sometimes that hurts. Sometimes that is not comfortable. But it is essential and it is good.
Where are the areas the Lord might be taking you to new depths today? Areas of growth that you might be resisting? May we be willing to have our Master Gardener prune and form us into His image more and more each day.
We sing the Psalms of David and Psalm 131 especially applies to these thoughts. Can my soul be like a weaned child towards the Lord?
Psalm 131
1Lord, my heart is not haughty, nor mine eyes lofty: neither do I exercise myself in great matters, or in things too high for me. 2Surely I have behaved and quieted myself, as a child that is weaned of his mother: my soul is even as a weaned child. 3Let Israel hope in the LORD from henceforth and for ever.