I recently witnessed a mom with her newborn. It was feeding time. Mom was ready with the bottle and within a minute her baby was content and eating.
Slowly but surely, the bottle was drained, and the effort seemed to exhaust the new baby. She lay on her mom’s lap with a little dribble of milk around her mouth.
The neat freak in me said, “Hey, it’s time to wipe that kid’s mouth,” and my next move would have been to reach for a wipe.
This mom had the same idea but wasn’t in a hurry. She remained still and put the empty bottle away. She moved with a grace and fluidity that didn’t disturb her nearly-sleeping baby.
She then grabbed the edge of a soft towel and delicately wiped the milk. She purposely took her time and continued to move with smoothness and grace.
The gentleness was amazing. Her focus was complete. The moment was silent. This mother’s love and caring approach were there for anyone to see. She took the time to be gentle and her reward was a moment of grace for her baby and herself.
When was the last time you purposely chose gentle as your first response? To anything?
It’s easy for our lives to become a series of tasks, goals, deadlines, rules, disruptions and shiny objects that are anything but gentle.
Only our conscious choice to be gentle will make it happen. Our desire to experience moments of grace and peace will bring them to us.
We control the gentleness we give to those around us…and to ourselves.
I, for one, am glad I got to see my daughter being so gentle with her new daughter.
It was a gentle reminder that I will not soon forget.
Encouragement is Personal 