Chicken nuggets with fingers; or how you don’t have to do life alone

As a dude, the most awkward place in the world is the waiting room at the OBGYN. It’s enemy territory; a pool of estrogen. Everyone in the room knows you’re not supposed to be there. The second you walk in the door, every woman looks at you like you’re the kid who peed in the pool and ruined it for everyone else.

As strange as it feels to sit at the lady doctor, it also brings one of the greatest feelings you can ever know: the first time you see a picture of the baby you’ve created.

I remember having no clue what to expect when Nicole and I went to the doctor for our 8-week ultrasound. I knew what the actual process was going to be like, but I didn’t know what I’d think or feel when I saw the little baby pop up on the screen.

Of all the things I thought I would think, I never imagined thinking what I actually thought:

Oh, look! There’s a little chicken nugget in Nicole’s belly.

No seriously. That’s what I thought.

At eight weeks, the baby is still so tiny that all you see is a little circle on the screen. In our case, that little circle looked exactly like a chicken nugget from McDonald’s.

So for the next 12 weeks, I referred to our baby as the little nugget.

Things changed when we went for the 20-week ultrasound. This time the little chicken nugget actually looked like a tiny human being. It had little arms and little legs. It had a little head and little feet.

The little chicken nugget even had fingers.

As we sat there looking at our daughter for only the second time ever, I remember being amazed at how her tiny body was already being formed. Every little detail from fingernails to heart chambers to a spine was growing and developing right before our eyes.

In that moment, I thought about a blog post I wrote earlier in the day about how big God is.

I thought about how he’s the God who created stars so big they make the earth look smaller than a golf ball.

I thought about how he formed the universe by simply speaking, but he still knows my little daughter before she even comes into the world.

Our God is big enough to do things beyond our imagination and yet he’s 100% invested in every part of our life.

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He knows about the depression.

He knows about the job loss.

He knows about the break up.

Whatever it is you’re going through – he knows about it and is invested in it.

I don’t know what this week holds for you. I don’t know if you’re excited for it or if you’re gritting your teeth hoping it goes by quickly and without much pain. What I do know is this:

You don’t have to walk through it alone.

The beauty of our creator is he didn’t create us and leave us. In fact, he left perfection to know us more; to experience everything we experience to love us better.

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This week – allow him to be a part of whatever is going on.

Invite him to walk beside you.

Let him take control as if you’re still a chicken nugget with fingers.

Say your prayers and take your vitamins.

Have a nice day.

-Jonathan