Handle with Care

“You’re really good at encouraging me, but what I need right now is a little more care.”

That was the extent of a text I sent to my husband after a date night that went awry. In the midst of a difficult season, I found myself more in need of a caretaker than a champion. Like a fragile gift in route to its final destination, this strong woman found herself in need of a little kid glove treatment. I needed one of those shipping labels exhorting all to “Handle with Care.”

New school years, fall kickoffs, and busy work days can drive us  (without intention) to a point of distraction, depletion, and discouragement. Anxious at the pace of the days or from contemplating what is yet to come; driven by a need, an urge to care for all the things. We forget what it is like to be cared for, to be handled with care.

Handle with Care: What does it mean?

We handle with care those things that we esteem, the things that we have an affection for. Handling with care means that we look after that person or thing. It means we do what is needed and necessary to protect that someone or something. The family heirloom, that lock of hair, the newborn babe, and the aging parent. We are careful with them all.

It is second nature to exercise caution with these treasures; we are careful not to jostle or disturb, protecting them from the hazards of the world. We shelter them from the elements, natural and otherwise.

We care for the people and things we esteem. What in your life needs to be handled with care? #HandleWithCare Click To Tweet

There are relationships and people in my life I could handle with a little more care. How about you? Perhaps your marriage, that prodigal child, a fractured friendship, or even your relationship with the Father is in need of care. Maybe you’re like me, feeling in need of your own shipping label reminding all to “Handle with Care.”

Whether it’s a tender child, a hurting husband, or your own weary spirit in need of care; as believers, we can take heart. There is one who is faithful, one standing with each of us in the midst of the fire.

There’s a grace when the heart is under fire,

Another way when the walls are closing in

And when I look at the space between where I used to be and this reckoning

I know I will never be alone.

There was another in the fire standing next to me

There was another in the waters holding back the seas

And should I ever need reminding of how I’ve been set free

There is a cross that bears the burden where another died for me

There is another in the fire.

Another in the Fire, Hillsong UNITED

He Cares

We have a Father who cares. He who created us, breathed life into us, and knit us together in our mother’s womb cares. He cares when it feels like nobody else does. He cares even when we feel unknown and unseen. When our trust and our faith are imperfect He cares. He cares even when we’re grasping for control and when we’re insistent on fighting our own battles.

When the challenges of this life seem without end, when the heart aches and the spirit lags, He cares. #HandleWithCare Click To Tweet

In 1 Peter 5|7 we are reminded to “cast our anxiety on him because he cares for you.” Throughout the Psalms we are reminded that He cares for us (Psalms 8|4), that He is mindful of us (Psalms 144|3). But that is not all – that is not our only evidence.

You see, not only does the Word tell of the care He has for us, but it also shows us by His actions. It is the precious blood of Christ that sets forth the highest standard of care; it speaks a new truth into our broken world. The atoning blood of Christ speaks to a love, a kindness, a mercy, and a grace that cannot be matched.

For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through Him. John 3|16-17

For we who believe, there is a hope in the risen Savior. There is hope in a living God. A God who performs miracles, and a God who cares for us.

So, when we are tempted to feel as though no one cares or are in need of a reminder of His care for us what should we do?

• Abide in Him. Get close to the Father, carve out space and time to be still, to just be with Him.
• Worship Him. Celebrate Him, celebrate the battle and the victory that belong to the Lord. Sing of His goodness.
• Rest in Him. Turn away from the distractions, lay down your head and your hands, and rest.
• Pray. Pray until you can’t, pray until your prayers are reduced to the name of Jesus and then take hope because there is power in the name.

Take heart friend, He is not finished yet.