She Did Not Lift It
The anchor verses are Job 2:13 · Hosea 11:8 (NIV).
A paper published yesterday records a mother humpback remaining beside a calf presumed stillborn.
On July 17, 2025, off Palm Beach on Australia’s Gold Coast, observers watched two adults for two hours. Underwater footage showed a motionless calf on the seabed. The presumed mother repeatedly approached, touched it with her head and fin, and positioned herself alongside it.
She did not lift it.
Jan-Olaf Meynecke and Andrew Mulville describe this rare encounter in Discover Animals. The absence of lifting might reflect the calf’s position, differences between whale species, or recognition that the calf was unresponsive. The observation cannot establish which explanation is right.
Another adult remained nearby. Vocalizations were heard, but the observers could not determine whether they came from the mother, the escort, or both. Two adults were seen in the area over the next two days, without confirmation that they were the same individuals.
The researchers discuss possible grief-related behavior. They also acknowledge other interpretations, including attachment and instinctive caregiving.
That uncertainty belongs in the telling.
This encounter cannot explain anyone’s loss. It does leave me thinking about presence when there is nothing we can repair.
There is a scene in Job that brings that question close.
Three friends hear what has happened to him and travel to see him. From a distance they hardly recognize him. They weep, tear their robes, and sit with him on the ground.
Then they sat on the ground with him for seven days and seven nights. No one said a word to him, because they saw how great his suffering was.
Job 2:13, NIV.
Seven days. Nobody spoke.
Their later explanations wound him. Before those arguments, the text gives us this scene of shared silence. They cannot undo his losses. They can sit beside him.
That presence matters. We do not have to call it nothing because it cannot fix what happened.
Then Hosea gives us words of GOD’s compassion toward Israel:
How can I give you up, Ephraim? How can I hand you over, Israel? … My heart is changed within me; all my compassion is aroused.
Hosea 11:8, NIV, excerpt.
The verse belongs to a passage about Israel’s unfaithfulness, judgment, and GOD’s refusal to abandon HIS people. The next verse speaks of mercy and of GOD’s holiness. This is not an explanation of why a child dies, and we must not turn it into one.
It does reveal compassion. The GOD who speaks through Hosea is not indifferent to the people HE loves.
We can bring our sorrow before HIM. We do not need to make it orderly first.
Somebody reading this has been told to be further along than they are.
Nobody says it outright. It arrives as a question about how you are doing now, with a small emphasis on the last word. It arrives when the invitations stop. It arrives at three in the morning, in your own voice, asking why this is still here.
Still grieving does not mean you have failed at faith.
There is room to miss someone. There is room to speak their name, to want company, or to ask for quiet. There is room to seek help carrying what has become too much to carry alone.
The friends in Job began by noticing how great his suffering was. We can begin there too. Before an explanation, attention. Before advice, a question about what would help.
Sometimes that means sitting down and letting the silence stand. Sometimes it means listening while the same story is told again. We can ask rather than assume.
The calf’s death remains a death. A research paper cannot tell a bereaved parent what their loss means or what comfort they should receive from it.
Scripture gives us people who sat beside sorrow and a GOD who speaks with compassion. We can trust HIM with what we cannot resolve, and stay near one another without demanding progress.
I am not here to prove myself. I am here to make HIM visible.
🙏 To the parents whose child was stillborn, and to those who remember their child’s name.
🙏 To the person who stays nearby, uncertain what to say, willing to listen.
🙏 To the one who has been asked how they are doing now, with the emphasis on the last word, and who said fine because it was easier.
🙏 To the researcher who records what was observed carefully and leaves room for what remains unknown.
Grace and Peace.
Sources: Meynecke and Mulville, Discover Animals, September 16, 2026 · Job 2 (NIV) · Hosea 11 (NIV). Scripture quotations: New International Version (NIV). The ellipsis in Hosea 11:8 marks omitted lines.
How this Daily Word comes together
My morning begins with private prayer. That prayer stays private; it is not source material for publication. I then read the day’s news through 1440 and bring together three sets of readings in the Bible app. Two follow areas where I want to spend personal Scripture time. The third is shared with a reading group, where a member usually recommends our next reading plan.
I work with multiple AI systems to explore connections, question interpretations, and develop and review the writing. I bring the reading choices, lived experience, and editorial direction, and I remain responsible for what appears here. AI agreement is not verification; claims still need to be checked against their sources.
For today’s edition, ChatGPT reviewed the supplied draft and card, checked the source paper and NIV passages, removed duplicated text, and corrected claims that went beyond the evidence.