Tiny Footsteps and Midnight Coughing

“My sheep hear my voice; I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish. No one can take them out of my hand.” // John 10:27-28

Rolling over in the middle of the night, I pat my husband on the arm, asking, “Theo’s coughing again, can you grab his inhaler?”

Quietly sneaking into our boys’ room, my husband gives our four year old his inhaler and then gently whispers him to sleep. I can hear my husband’s murmurs from the next room. As I try to fall back to sleep, I hear the pitter-patter of my son Luca’s tiny footsteps as he escapes his bunk bed and runs to my room to take over my husband’s vacated spot in the bed. Hours later, I hear my daughter Emma hop down from her loft bed to tip-toe to the bathroom. In the morning, I hear our son Henry yawn and groan as he begins to wake up from his top bunk, knowing that shortly we’ll be greeted by demands for cereal.

With only a small glow of a night light from the bathroom, a hallway between my room and the kids’ rooms, and white noise machines on full volume, I still know the different sounds each of my kids make. I know Emma’s sneeze from Henry’s. I know Theo’s walk from Luca’s. My husband and I know the mood of each other’s sighs.

Sister, you know the sound of the voice on the other end of a call right when they pick up (back when we had landlines and no caller ID). You know the exact person who sent you a card in the mail even without a return address by their handwriting. You know your mom by her smell. You know your dad by his laugh. You know your children by their sneezes. You know your sister by her singing. You recognize your cherished ones by the little things. How beautiful is it to be known by our loved ones through all those moments shared together!

How much greater does Our Father know you? He sees every bit of you. He intimately knows your heartbeat. He holds you in His hands and loves you. You are seen for who you are because of Whose you are. Do you know this today?