My little granddaughter said to me today, “Nana, lift me up, cause I need to put my dolly on the high shelf.”

I said I would put dolly up there for her if she wanted.

She said, “No. This is my job cause she’s my dolly and I want to make sure she is safe on the high shelf, so will you be my alligator and lift me up so I can do it myself?”

“Your alligator?” I asked.

“Yeah, like the alligator in the hobsible when you get in and the doors close and up you go.”

I placed my hands under her arms and lifted her up above my head. She set her dolly on the high shelf of honour where she would be raised above the threat of the marauding toddler sibling and his friends.

Sometimes the Lord gives us responsibilities for those he places in our care. We know our assignment is to seek their well-being, to protect them from potential harm and to raise them up to be who they are meant to be. This can be a daunting task, an overwhelmingly difficult task when often we feel so out of control.

I was asking the Lord how I should pray for the people he has placed in my heart when I feel so inadequate, when I am so aware of my own short-comings.

Then, as he often does, He sent a child to show me the way.

Abba, will you be my alligator and lift me up so I can do my part and bring my loved ones into your presence where they will be visible to the ones who would threaten them, but still be out harm’s reach? I recognize that you are the one who has made everything possible, yet you give me the privilege of working with you with my little bit of mustard seed-sized faith clutched in my pudgy hand. Thank you.

Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Colossians 3:1

For in the day of trouble he will keep me safe in his dwelling; he will hide me in the shelter of his sacred tent and set me high upon a rock. (Psalm 27:5)

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