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Mothers of my acquaintance, you lavishly spend kisses on your children, never calculating how many you freely give each day.
I didn’t realize this until last Saturday.
A mother holds her newborn baby and gently kisses his head. This is not a planned way to help the newly arrived person to develop mentally and emotionally. She does not kiss his head because she read about it in her parenting book, (though she may have).
She does this because she has been waiting for his arrival, and now HE IS HERE! She has been loving this child for forty weeks, and now he is nestled in her arms.
The kiss is an overflow of her emotions. They reveal the precious reality.
Mothers lavishly spend kisses on their children, never calculating how many they freely give each day.
The child doesn’t think about the gift that has been bestowed on his head. As he gets older, squirms away from kisses, shuns kisses, and eventually refuses his mother’s kisses, he doesn’t cherish the thought of the kisses he has been given. That’s his mom. That’s what she’s supposed to do. (And, at eight, he’s too old and mature for that sort of thing.)
Mothers lavishly spend kisses on their children, never calculating how many they freely give each day.
Two Saturdays ago was a “horrible” time while leaving the orphanage. I put a baby (18 months old,) back in his crib and he began screaming bloody murder, grasping out his hands, wanting someone to stay with him and love him.
I left behind me a whole room of wailing children.
This last Saturday I went to the rehabilitation room. (This is the room where the nannies got mad at me for playing with the children’s socks and showing the babies how to throw their socks across the room. haha Oops.)
Last time I visited this room, a boy with cerebral palsy only cried and moaned when I held his hand. This Saturday he seemed to be feeling better. I began to hold his hand. I got closer to him and touched his face. He relaxed. I continued. Soon he smiled. Then, I got really crazed and hugged him and kissed him. He started laughing and smiling.
I did it with some of the other girls in the room as well. (Most of these children may have a form of cerebral palsy. All their arms are tied to the cribs in which they live. Most of them are between 12-14 years old. You wouldn’t know it unless you looked at their teeth.)
Mothers of my acquaintance, you lavishly spend kisses on your children, never calculating how many you freely give each day.
One girl who has never before shown facial expressions started smiling when I bent down and kissed her forehead.
Never have I said, “How thankful I am for my mother's kisses! They helped me develop emotionally and physically. Mother, I thank you!”
But, I should be thankful.
The babies at the orphanage just want kisses. They want their faces to be touched and “tickled”. They want someone’s voice to soothe them when they cry. They want to be comforted in their tears, not commanded to be quiet.
One little baby started crying. The nanny shouted at her to stop crying.
When the nanny left, I started “singing” with her sorrow. Her crying stopped. I walked over to her crib and just tickled her face. Her eyes stared up at me, surprised and bewildered, not sure if she would actually keep her silence.
After awhile, she began to fall asleep.
I kissed her face too.
Oh LORD! Bring security and safety to these precious babies who have none.
Now that I know, what will I do?
(Will you also contemplate this question?)
