Have you ever tried to spoon feed a baby? It can be quite a messy process. Two things always seem to get
in the way: the child’s hands and the child’s tongue. If a child would just sit there, with hands out of the way, mouth wide open and a tongue that moved in the right direction the process would be so much easier. In
reality though, it rarely goes that way.
Not to say that it never goes that way. I remember years ago, when I had stopped by a neighbor’s home while
she was feeding her baby. Her obviously healthy son sat happily in his bouncy seat, mouth wide open and hands resting at his sides, waiting on each large spoonful of food from his mother. He did not thrust back out a single drop with his tongue. It was the picture perfect scene of mother feeding her infant.
In our home, all five of my children have proven to be messy eaters. Every day as I feed our youngest daughter the greatest challenge is keeping the food in her mouth and her hands out of the way. Rarely do we finish a meal where she does not need thoroughly cleaned up as well as anything in arms reach of her, including me. As I go through this messy process once again I am convinced that it is God using her to teach me those things that get in the way of the blessings He has for me. Two things always seem to get in the way: my hands and my tongue.
It takes a wide open heart, hands that are willing to stay out of the way, and a tongue that is willing to speak in line with God’s promises to receive his full blessings. It takes an acceptance of God’s truths, even those that taste awful when they are first presented to us. We can only grow in faith and grow closer to God as we consume His word. With that being said, how is the spoon feeding going? That is what matters most.
Man does not live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of the LORD. Deuteronomy 8:3b
