I am just coming out of the 8-9 month sleep regression phase.

Any other parents know that the “developmental leaps” that accompany difficulty sleeping are some of the most tiring seasons of parenthood.

My daughter would wake up multiple times each night and needs constant comfort and physical touch to settle back down. Even then, sleeping in her own room through the entire night rarely happened.

It was very easy for me to plan my own pity party every night- dreading the interrupted sleep and the constant neediness of my daughter.

Nevertheless, in those early morning hours of rocking and shushing, patting and whispering, the Lord confronts me time and again with His character and how my daughter’s need for me is a picture of my need for my Savior.

Throughout Scripture, God’s people are likened to babies- infants in constant need of care and comfort.

“As a mother comforts her child, so will I comfort you.” (Is. 66:13)

I’ll admit that before I became a mom last year, this analogy was somewhat lost on me. I didn’t fully comprehend what it meant for my need to be like that of a baby. The first night with my newborn, my concept “need” shifted entirely.

My daughter needed me (and still does) for everything- to stay clean; provide nutrition and hydration;  comfort, rest and safety; to learn to trust and love, and so much more.

And, like I mentioned before, it was and still is easy for me to bemoan this neediness.

But God doesn’t bemoan my neediness for Him.

When I come to the Lord in prayer, He doesn’t groan with apprehension. He doesn’t dread my petitions or my pleas for help and guidance. Quite the opposite, He loves when I come to Him in my finitude and my neediness. More than that, He yearns for it.

In Matthew 11:28, Jesus invites weary people to come to Him for rest. He desires to calm and quiet our restless souls.

Psalm 131:2 captures this concept beautifully in the way only poetry can:

“But I have calmed and quieted my soul, like a weaned child with its mother.”

My personal favorite verse in this tiring season of motherhood is Isaiah 40:11.

“He tends his flock like a shepherd: He gathers the lambs in his arms and carries them close to his heart; he gently leads those that have young.” (italics mine)

Did you catch that last part? “He gently leads those that have young.”

It didn’t hit me until recently that this last part is me, and it is any believer in the season of having young! He deals gently with me– knowing my frame and remembering that I am but dust (Ps. 103:14).

For any other young parents in difficult seasons of “having young,” do not bemoan your children’s neediness for you. Invite it, as our Lord does.

In a culture that loves to view children as burdens and distractions from “important work,” remember that your children are not only gifts from God (Ps. 127:3), but that they are your “important work” and often your biggest sanctifier.

It is through the eyes of our children that we see and are able to grasp our own neediness for our Savior. We are not as independent and put together as we may think we are.

It is through the eyes of my daughter that I can stand in awe at the feet of my Savior and contemplate His great love for me. If my love for my daughter knows no bounds, how much more does my Savior’s love for me? Truly, His thoughts for His people are more than the sands of the seashore (Ps. 139:18).

Motherhood is hard. It’s tiring, exhausting, and often stressful.

Nevertheless, it is the most beautiful and sanctifying gift that I have ever been given.