Lesson from Ava: Relaxing in the Spirit

I spent the weekend with my cousin Whitney, her husband Hue, and most importantly, six-week-old baby Ava. I spent the whole time loving on a sweet baby girl who wanted nothing more than to coo and cuddle. What a life!

Baby Ava Relaxing on Auntie Kerri... What a Life!

I've been suffering major Ava withdrawls for the past two days. Ava knows how to live. When she is unhappy, she calls out to those who love her. When she is happy, she smiles and laughs and shares her moments of joy. When she's hungry, she seeks out her mother's breast. When she is tired, she relaxes into the arms that hold her safe and secure. She lets the world exist around her without letting it change her.

How do we get so far from that place? How do we end up trying to feed our hunger in all the wrong places? What makes us force our unhappiness upon everyone around us rather than letting a few funny faces make us laugh? Why do we work so hard to stay awake and struggle against the arms that hold us instead of relaxing into perfect rest and renewal?

One of the ladies at my Monday night Bible study shared how challenged she had been lately at yielding to the Spirit of God instead of our flesh or emotions. I guess that because I've been a driver for so long, my definition of yield has simply been along the lines of "letting someone else go first." After a weekend with Ava in my arms, I'm starting to see this "yielding" in a new way. I think that, in order to truly walk in Spirit, we need to do more than just let Him go ahead of our flesh. That mentality simply puts us in a game of Follow the Leader.

Instead, we should let the truth of Who He is in us take full control. The blood of the Living Christ flows through me. I need to do more than just try to follow Him. I need to relax into Him, and in doing so, be one with Him.

When baby Ava relaxed and slept on my chest this weekend, our breathing matched. When I moved, she moved with me. Shouldn't that be our interaction with the Spirit?

"And he said, 'I tell you the truth, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. Therefore, whoever humbles himslef like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven."
Matthew 18:3-4