How does a weaning baby feel?
Don't know. Too distant a memory. I had been reading up all the baby weaning and teething issues I can get my hands on, thanks to some advertorials I am writing. To my surprise, there are plenty to learn. For instance, if baby holds her head up and starts to smack her lips and click her tongue, you know she's interested in what you have in your hand. Or when she grabs your finger and chews, chew, chews. Or when she drools enough to fill a swimming pool.
Enough said, teething can be very distressing for baby as the teeth pushes out from the gums and produces pressure. Many remedies are available - teething rings, teething rusks, teething gels, cold apple wedges... but none I suspect is as effective as the cuddles, hugs and the huge arms of a loving mom to soothe away all the pain.
Psalm 131 is short. At only three verses, this passage looks like a filler of some sort (compare it to the humongous Psalm 119). Just as fillers are full of dense material (ask your friendly dentist or the collagen expert), Psalm 131 is simple, yet it fills you up nicely, if you get what it means.
Along with Psalms 122, 124 and 133, Psalm 131 is part of a medley of four songs. In particular, it is a song of simple trust sung by David.
The part that grabs me is verse 2. It says "Surely I have calmed and quieted my soul, Like a weaned child with his mother, Like a weaned child is my soul within me."
OK, in all truth, I don't think David remembered what it felt like to be a weaned child when he wrote this song. But he must have felt a comfort and contentedness beyond all he could describe, and there were no words to explain it - just like a gurgling baby who can't speak of the wonders of the mother's love but can undoubtedly feel it!
Parenting experts say that it is a good practice to let baby explore and have a variety of tastes and sensations in their tongue - so they will not grow up to be fussy eaters. This applies to when the baby is teething too, and when he is uncomfortable, irritable and when mealtimes can be an adventure! The mother will gently and patiently persuade baby to accept what is being fed. Even if it takes weeks. A wise mom would not give only sweet stuff to baby, no matter how the baby longs for it!
And for us, why should life be only confined to sweet things? Don't the bitter, sour, spicy, uncomfortable, unlikeable stuff also contribute to our own good if it is fed from a Loving Hand?
A weaning baby who trusts the hand that feeds her will accept and smile while she swallows. A child who simply trusts in the Almighty is so firmly anchored in hope that he can sleep like a baby in the midst of life's storms and difficulties.
Lord my heart is not haughty, nor my eyes lofty
Neither do I concern myself with great matters
Nor with things too profound for me
Surely I have calmed and quieted my soul
Like a weaned child with his mother
Like a weaned child is my soul within me
Oh Israel, hope in the Lord
From this time forth and forever
