Noelle

I was trying to get Noelle to sleep last night. Sometimes it's so easy...other times it's a challenge. Last night was a challenge. As I was lying there trying to keep my eyes open, Noelle was lying down, then sitting back up, just when I thought she was drifting off to sleep. I began to think that she may very well be a personification of my relationship with God.

Noelle is a very sweet baby. I'm so blessed to have her in my life...we all are. She's getting quite a personality...cute and sassy...and, of course, spoiled. :) Now that she's more mobile, she plays for a good amount of time by herself. But she does like for someone to be fairly near her...just in case she decides she *needs* to be cuddled.

Alas, my little princess does have two irritating flaws...she does not like to sleep and she doesn't seem to have (or want) any kind of routine to her day. When we lay her down for a nap, she may sleep 15 minutes...or 2 hours...one never knows. There is no rhyme or reason to it. Needless to say, she may take as many as 4 naps in a day. And she'll be up for as little as an hour or as much as 4-5 hours in between naps. Her bedtime at night is nowhere near consistent either. Sometimes she'll just lie down next to me and drift off to sleep...and sometimes she would rather me walk her to sleep.

So how does this personify my relationship with God? Well, for starters, I want to *see* Him next to me all the time, just in case I need a hug or something. Yes, I know He's always present with me...but it's not enough to intellectually know...I want to FEEL Him with me.

The biggest similarity, though, is the sleep issue...which would translate to resting in Him. There is no rhyme or reason to when I will. I may rest in Him for 15 minutes...or it may be longer. There is no rhyme or reason to it. And no matter how tired I am, sometimes I just won't give in and rest.

Noelle's name means Beloved Birth Day. That's no accident. It would seem that there has been a heightened sense of awareness of God's reality since the week I was in labor with her. I have definitely made positive progress in my pursuit of God and His true character. And it seems I have seen things about myself much more clearly since her birth.