Hey Jude!

Well I am enjoying having my life back with evenings and weekends to spare. I have enjoyed catching up with my friends and being involved in their lives rather than saying sorry I'm working!

I eventually got to call and see baby Jude on Sunday. Gareth and Emma are good friends of mine...Their child is now 9 weeks old...how bad a friend am I? The running joke was that I'd get to meet Jude when he was getting ready for secondary school. Needless to say I'm hooked and will be dying to get a cuddle from him at every given opportunity.

What a miracle. The beauty of new life...

As I held little Jude I could feel the very presence of God in the form of affection. That strong pull that makes your heart melt. Its the innocence and purity of a baby that makes them so stunningly beautiful.

After a bit of baby babble and a well overdue nurse Jude started to get a bit restless and had to go for a wee sleep...I had to hand him over!! The concept of the cry of a newborn baby is something that has always fascinated me. Right for the moment we are born. Before we have developed the art of verbal communication....we have a deep desire for expression and connection.

This baby wants to express how he feels, he wants to let his mum know that he is hungry, he wants to smile and let them see that he is enjoying all the attention. Without words he gets his point across very clearly.

This deep desire for connection, expression and communication never leaves us.

The cry is always as deep as when we are a baby. Its just in that time that it is the pure deep soul cry...as we get older and as we develop insecurity and barriers in our communication we loose the honesty in the cry. We are "fine" when actually we are dying on the inside.

Truth is the more ways we can communicate often the less honestly we express our souls.

Think about the ways we communicate with each other...there are vast numbers of ways.

Sometimes though more is said in an honest cry, or in the silence. I love sitting with someone I love without having to say anything....and yet something real is said in the end.

I am not suggesting we all start to cry like babies, nor am I suggesting that we reject the English vocabulary..I am more than thankful for my ability to communicate in ways that some can't.

However I do think baby Jude has taught me a little about raw honesty, bearing our souls and not hiding behind our screens of okayness.

God is amazing. He gave us the ability to create life. He longs for us to truly live...for that child like longing to be fulfilled and deepened. He longs for us to connect with him and to be honest with him and each other....surely that is freedom. I went through a rough patch a while back and I know that the most important lesson I have learnt is how to be honest with myself, with my family and loved ones and with God. Its more pure, its simple and it brings more clarity...As a wearied child rests at the end of the day so then can we rest in the peace and acceptance of our Father.