The soul that is like a weaned child
"But I have stilled and quieted my soul; like a weaned child with its mother, like a weaned child is my soul within me." (Psalms 131:2)
We are hearing news that the death toll of more than 100,000 people is due to the earthquake and tsunami called the catastrophe in Asia. It is said that now there is epidemic. It can be really scary. And there is a possibility of another earthquake soon. We feel once again, even indirectly, of our human beings that we cannot help the forces of nature. Yesterday I saw in the news a very big wave covering the hotel pool. I have heard that there are many children who died from the waves. In particular, many children were killed by the big waves while picking up fish that were scattered on the sandy beach. It is very unfortunate that this happened. When I hear the word "wave," I remember what a former elder of my church said long time ago. Although the waves may hit the sea shore, the pearl shells will continue to make pearls under the sea that are still. On the surface, the waves may hit hard, but the bottom of the sea is calm and still. Many people were killed by the big wave this time, but I heard news that a woman wasn't dead because she was scuba diving under the sea.
There are many kinds of "waves" on the path of our lives. We are anxious, afraid, and hurt by those waves. In the meantime, what we don’t learn well yet is to keep the soul's still and quite like under the waves of the sea. In Psalms 131:2, the psalmist referred to a still soul and a quiet soul as 'a soul like a weaned child.' Why is he saying ‘a soul like a weaned child’? At that time, a Jewish mother was said to have weaned their babies 2-3 years after they were born. It may vary now, but now it seems a mother weans a baby about a year. I thought of my youngest child, Yeun when she was one year old after weaning. In particular, I thought about Yeun's being in her mother's arms and resting her head on her shoulder. I think that such a weaned child-like soul is a soul in Heavenly Father's arms. Imagine how still and quite the soul will be. I wonder what it would be like for my soul to fall asleep slowly while listening to the sound of Father God’s heart in the arms of my loving Heavenly Father and listening to the lullaby in His soft voice. I wonder what I will be like when my soul hear the voice of my Father God who embraces me with one arm and gently strokes my back with the other hand.
In the city we live in, there are many factors that lose stillness and quietness of the soul in the midst of so busyness. There are so many words of human beings, so many words of the world, and so many times especially the words of our emotions and thoughts that make waves in our souls. Therefore, our souls aren’t creating a beautiful ‘masterpiece’ that pleases God like a shell that makes a pearl. We need to be still and know that God is God. But our souls are not like the weaned child and seem to be trying to grow too big. It seems like a long time ago that we have forgotten the stillness and the quietness of our souls, like a youth who doesn't miss Heavenly Father's arms but tries to challenge the world's storms at his will, and is swept away by the storms.
We must restore the stillness and quietness of our souls. Our souls must return to the weaned child and be embraced by our Heavenly Father. The path of faith that we walk in His arms will keep our souls still and quite in any storm.
“When peace, like a river, attendeth my way, When sorrows like sea billows roll;
Whatever my lot, Thou hast taught me to say, ‘It is well, it is well with my soul.’
It is well with my soul; It is well, it is well with my soul.”
(Hymn “When Peace, Like a River, Attendeth My Way”, verse 1)
Missing the happy child in the arms of the Lord of Peace,
James Kim
(This morning with a longing for the Lord)