Beyond basic training, my first assignment in the United States military as a medical technician was on the Labor and Delivery unit of a military hospital in San Antonio, Texas. It was love at first baby sighting. I still remember watching my first birth, a really brave gal who delivered naturally without any medication assistance. My shift had ended, but I stuck around because I was so captivated by the absolute phenomenon we call birth. With nurse and patient permission, I hoovered in the back of the room and, absolutely captivated, watched the miracle that is birth unfold.
I’ll never forget it as long as I live. It was so beautiful, so very, very divine in origin.
What I loved still more was when the nurse placed that baby – skin to skin – on his mama’s chest right after delivery.
I learned, as I worked on that unit for four lovely years, what that skin to skin touch did for those babies that were fortunate enough to have it. It helped regulate their vital signs (temperature, breathing, and heart rate). I can’t recall a single case where the baby continued to wail for an extended period of time on his mother’s chest. It was soothing, fitting, calming to the one so recently come from spiritual realms.
No doubt incredibly beneficial to a sometimes shell-shocked newborn.
But not just the newborn. The mom, too, profited. She was calmer, more relaxed; there was a helpful increase in relaxation hormones.
Touch.
It’s really that powerful.
There’s a neuroscience in touch. We are wired for it. Especially in early infancy. Our brains need it to develop properly. A nurse once told me that the most important thing that could happen to a baby in infancy and beyond was to be loved, to be touched. Neglect is so terribly detrimental.
In fact, James Prescott, health scientist, was so convinced of the relationship between body contact and the developing brain. His research showed when there was “deprivation in early infancy,” it caused “neurological dysfunction which led to autistic behaviors and increased vulnerability to alcohol and drug abuse in adulthood, acts that attempted to compensate for sensory deprivation or loss in early life.” (https://www.babysensory.com.au/power_of_touch)
This is so tragic! And that it yields a life of searching in sometimes terrible places for compensation for what should have been!
Moreover, other researchers discovered that “babies and children raised in orphanages without physical contact in the 1920’s suffered stunted growth and had abnormal levels of…cortisol…The brains of infants left in cots were also 20 per cent smaller than those who were picked up, cuddled and cradled, despite adequate nutrition and hygiene.” (Skuse, 1984; Rutter 1998, 2001; Feldman 2014)
The absence of touch early on wrecks us. It can lead to isolation, depression, and ever so tragically, even suicide. On the other hand, the presence of it builds us, instills confidence, and helps us grow in independence.
Once on my mission on splits, the member with whom I was paired shared something with me I’ve never forgotten. She was an older sister, wise in her years. She told me when I made street contacts to always try to shake the hands of people I met. She said there was a power in touching someone, in making physical contact and if per chance the person was elect to hear the restored message, he/she could potentially feel something through the medium of touch. I remembered her words and always tried to shake hands when I felt it would be well received. Sometimes even a gentle pat or quick tap to communicate a heart message.
There is a beautiful power in appropriate touch.
It’s imperative for babies, but adults need it, too. Though touch “is the last sensory system to fade as we grow older,” the need for it continues throughout the duration of our lives. (https://www.babysensory.com.au/power_of_touch)
With this backdrop, I like to think of the Biblical woman with the issue of blood. Her story is poignantly distressing – especially because under the Mosaic law, “if a woman had an issue of blood that lasted longer than seven days, then all the days of her issue were considered unclean, and she must be treated as such (Leviticus 15:25)…This means the woman had been unclean for twelve years and that she had to live separated from others for all that time. Her unclean status also meant that she was unable to attend the temple or other worship services. She was estranged not only from the people around her but also from her God…” (Farrell, H., “Walking With the Women of the New Testament, pg 56).
Can you imagine her loneliness? Her depression? Her feelings of worth? Her desperation? Her life?
Enter Jesus.
And we know how His power, His virtue changed her life. In an instant.
Because as He passed by, she reached.
She just got his hem, but it was enough.
There is power in touch.
Especially in reaching for Jesus.
Unto all the world: Embrace the power in touch!