SKIN TO SKIN

Moments before I held my firstborn, I was handed the secret to connection.

“Hold your baby on your chest, skin to skin, close to the heartbeat she’s known,” the nurse advised.

She knew what had been true of humans since the beginning of time.

To come close, we must remove everything that comes between us.

Even a threadbare hospital gown can get in the way of love.

So why hesitate?

Because ‘covered up’ has been our condition since sin first entered the room and exposed us.  

Dignity demands that it be so.

Yet staying covered prevents us from true intimacy.

And it hinders us from drawing near to God.

So to love fully, we must reach to untie all the things that bind us and bare our souls. 

Skin to skin.

It leaves us vulnerable. It renders us humble. 

But the only way to still our hearts is to be brought close to the heartbeat of God.

Skin to skin. 

We are helpless, naked babes in this cold and noisy world. 

We flail and squirm, grasping for warmth, something to soothe, a place to belong.

Yet our bones are soft and weak; they cannot carry us to Love.

So with a mother’s passion, Love takes pity. 

The Holy One lays Himself bare, takes on human flesh, and pulls us into the deepest, safest place we will ever know.

It is there you will find your peace.

It is there you will remember who you are.

You are His.

He is yours.

Skin to skin. Heart to heart.

 You are loved.

“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.”

(Romans 8:38-39, NIV)