The miracles of life...

I stared at the newborn baby. The tiny hands, the little face, the dark eyes with a tinge of lightness around the edge. Those same eyes stared back at me. Sometimes he looked at me, and sometimes, he looked at something else. Something...distant and elusive. I found myself wondering what he saw. Suddenly the little face puckered up and sneezed. “Bless you”, I replied. And I smiled. How could you help but smile? He was all wrapped up in his soft yellow blanket and he seemed so...tiny. And simply darling. After a while, he fussed a bit and I passed him back to his mother...

Later on, I was sitting in another house by a dining room table. Once again, I was holding another little bundle, wrapped up in a white blanket. A newborn baby girl this time. She was sleeping, and she never stirred in the time that I was holding her. She was tiny, and something about her was simply angelic. I stared at the fine features, and the black hair that ran along the top of her head and down the back of it. She seemed happy. And content. Content simply to be there...

Sometime later, I sat on another couch in a dimly lit room. There was a third little bundle in my arms. Yet another newborn, the baby girl slept soundly for forty-five minutes while I held her. And once again, I just stared. I smiled a bit at the round, pudgy cheeks. She was darling, and I couldn’t help but notice how she looked like her older sister and her dad. I chuckled inside at the similarities of family members. As I sat there and watched her, she began to wake up. The tiny arms and legs stretched, the tiny mouth yawned. Suddenly there was a little pair of dark eyes staring at me, looking me over and wondering who I was...

But then again, she probably already knew...

Two nieces and a great nephew. Three newborns, all within about two weeks of each other. I marvel at it a bit every time I hold a newborn baby, because it reaffirms to me that life is good, and there are still wonderful things to happen in the history of this world. It shows me that there are still great works to be done here, and that despite the problems of the day, there are still wonderful opportunities in this life. Opportunities and events that people want the chance to take part in.

Later on, in my back yard, I stood out in the falling snow and let it fall around me. I stood there as the flakes built up in my hair, and on my sweater. I took a handful of snow and rubbed it between my fingers. I felt the cold creep into my hands, as my fingers began to burn.

And I laughed...

Inside and outside, from the bottom of my soul, I laughed. Because despite what we may think or feel, the Lord still loves us. Each and every one of us. And that love is evidenced by everything around us. The sunshine on a warm day, the tender new grass shoots poking through the dry grass, the fluffy white clouds in a clear blue sky, the tiny new buds on the branches of a tree, and yes, even in the white, cold powder called snow, and the clear cold icicle hanging from a twig.

And yes, in the tiny smile, sneeze, or angelic face of a newborn baby...

Wherever you are at in your life, believe in the good, and keep working with it, because it’s going to be okay, and your Father in Heaven loves you.