Below is part of an insta-draft of Lacking Nothing: Quieting an Anxious and Avoidant Faith. I’m posting from our writing retreat to get feedback & clarity. Please support the writing of this book by becoming a paid subscriber.
It is very interesting that when God gives Moses the words to bless Israel, God’s face is mentioned twice. We are going to walk through these verses in a moment.
But first, we need to talk about the importance of faces and joy.
Infant researchers have found that “in the first hours of life, we begin to search out the faces and eyes of those around us” (The Neuroscience of Human Relationship: Attachment and the Developing Social Brain). And it isn’t just infants looking for parents. Parents love to look into the faces of their new babies. Parents and children regularly “engage in prolonged periods of mutual gazing that calm and relax them both.” We are so drawn to the faces of babies that for most people, the “sight of an infant affects them physically and emotionally, drawing them toward the child with increased openness and sensitivity.”
Joyful connection is built from these face-to-face interactions as joy passes non-verbally from one face to another, radically changing one’s body chemistry and emotional energy. We feel totally different when we see a friendly face. Everything changes.
When we are little, these face-to-face interactions are like exercise routines that expand our capacity for joy. And they come in two different kinds of experiences. The first are interactions that “amplify joy”. The second are interactions that “return to joy”.
You might think that relieving distress is the most important thing in caring for a baby. And that is true for a baby’s physical development.
But building joy is the most important thing for a baby’s relational and emotional development.
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