That Name

If you grew up in a good ol' fashioned Baptist church like I did, you were definitely exposed to this song at least 57,543 times....

Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, sweetest name I know

Fills my every longing, keeps me singing as I go!

I joke about the number, but we sang the song a lot. And I'm glad we did. It's a cheery song about the God-Man behind the name that evokes peace and comfort. It's permanently seared into my heart.

That song came to mind Tuesday morning when I had to pull out all my mommy arsenal in hopes of soothing a screaming, panicky, on-the-verge-of-throwing-up-from-sobbing-so-hard 2 1/2 year old-boy.

It wasn't my son, though. It was his little buddy, Nate.

His parents both had full schedules that day and needed someone to watch him so I happily volunteered. Ethan loves his buddy, and honestly it's a nice break when the two get together. They keep each other busy for hours.

However, Tuesday morning Nate arrived a lot earlier than our normal playdate time. Ethan was still asleep (I think I technically was, too) so he wasn't there to welcome Nate with toy-filled arms when he arrived.

Oh boy. What a catastrophe the next 20 minutes were.

Screams. Flails. Tears. Snot. Tiny hands banging on the front door.

How my son slept through that noise, I have no idea. But he did.

I was worried the neighbors would think something horrifying was happening in our home.

(Insert wild imagination here) I go outside and all neighbors are standing in their yards with hands on hips, shaking heads, pointing fingers, yelling "child abuser!!" while I'm being whisked away in handcuffs to the local jail.

Yes, I can be pretty dramatic like that.

Finally, a breakthrough occurred. Which is a good thing, because I almost started to join in with the poor little guy.

I talked about Jesus.

And I began singing "Jesus loves me" and he started to calm. I could see his body relax. The tears stopped. And he just laid on his stomach listening to my early-morning voice crack through the song until he was completely soothed and ready to play with the Wolverine figurine I had waiting for him on a little four-wheeler. And away Wolverine went...

I'm telling you, the name of Jesus is a balm. It has soothed many of my fears along the way and it did the same thing for a sad little boy who was dealing with some separation anxiety.

I love that name.

It's the sweetest one I know.