Very recently my husband and I have been blessed with the birth of our firstborn son. I can honestly say that the past 8 weeks have been the most joyous but also most challenging time in our lives, as we learn our baby and how to look after him and adjust our lives and routines. 

One of the things I have discovered is the parents’ ability to distinguish between different cries that the baby makes. As we know, babies communicate their needs through crying, and the parents learn over time how to interpret their cues. They learn that the cry for a hug sounds different to the cry that says ‘I need my nappy changed’ or the one that says ‘I’m tired’ and so on. But the most obvious to interpret is the cry for hunger. The cry that the baby makes when he is hungry is a different type of cry – intense and sort of coming ‘deep within’.

Peter writes that we are to crave ‘pure spiritual milk’ the way a baby craves milk. This is a deep, wholehearted craving. The question is – do we crave this ‘pure spiritual milk’ the way a baby craves his milk? Do we have this deep longing for God and communion with Him? Do we have that thirst for studying God’s Word and for communicating with Him in prayer?  Someone once said that each and every one of us has been born with a God – shaped longing in our hearts that only He can fill. Some people don‘t realise it and look for spiritual fulfilment in other things, things that will not satisfy the longing that only God can.

If we have grown cold or lukewarm, if we don’t feel that longing, that craving, we need to ask ourselves – why? Is there anything that is filling our lives and our hearts instead, something that prevents us from experiencing that hunger for God?

One of the health professionals told me that the baby does not need to drink any water and that the milk provides both food and drink for him. Although there are some instances when the baby may benefit from a little water, this however should only be given in small amounts, as otherwise it may inhibit the baby receiving all his nutrients that he needs as he won’t be as hungry for milk. So it is with our spiritual lives. If we fill ourselves with ‘inferior’ food oppose to the ‘pure spiritual milk’ that only God can offer, we will find ourselves spiritually undernourished. We will feel empty inside and we may not even realise why. The answer to that is – in God we truly find our fulfilment, only He can satisfy our desires. So let’s learn from little babies to crave what is wholesome, now ‘that we have tasted that the Lord is good’. After all Jesus did say in Matthew 18:3 ‘Truly I tell you, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven”