“May I have a hug, Mama?”

My 4 year old asks this question all day long. He loves hugs, and will tell you that they make him happy. Being that he asks all day long, I’m often in the middle of something when asked, and will give him a quick one armed, half hug so I can keep stirring dinner, or finish reading the article I was in the middle of.

This was the case one evening, when I was completely engrossed in a game. He asked, and I beckoned him to me, hastily rubbing his back with one hand as he cradled his little body into mine.

“Mama, both hands.” 

He was reaching out for a genuine touch and my distraction made me completely miss it. 

It was hard not to beat myself up in that moment, but he still wanted his hug; still trusted that when he said he wanted all of my attention that I would give it. So I did, and as I held him, I thought of the Father.

I thought about how many people have told me they don’t need to bother God with their little problems, the picture they paint being God is distracted by “real” issues. They believe they’ll receive no more than a quick pat on the head when the yearning in their heart is to be embraced. The rejection would be too much, so they choose not to ask at all.

Then I looked at my son, who boldly asked for what he wanted because he knows me. He knows that when asked, I would give him all of me.

Jesus claims that in the way my son knows me, and can trust me based on what he knows, we can know and trust Him and his Father. In John 10:28-30 He says, “I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one will snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all; no one can snatch them out of my Father’s hand.  I and the Father are one.”

Paul understood this when in Romans 8 he says, “For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers,  neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

You are precious to Him, and his strong grip receives all that you are, whether you bring much or little, with no intention on letting you go. The Father is holding you with both hands.