The Circle of Life

The Circle of Life.    

Guess you could say my heart is nigh unto overflowin’!  A sweet baby boy has entered this world, and well, I see pictures in my heart, pictures on my phone, pictures on my camera, and word pictures from Scripture … all floating around my tired head like figures on an enchanting mobile. 

You know, God’s timing is always perfect, in more ways than one.  We finished our five-month study of Paul’s letter to the Ephesians the first of last week, and I had intended to say, ‘So long—I am going to take a bit of a break.’  But alas, my Amy delivered baby Bennett on Monday morning last, and I have been caught up in a maelstrom of joy, activity and exhaustion – which have rendered me absolutely useless when I sat down to write!  As I type, it is 11.40 pm … mama and baby are resting; I will wait a couple hours until it is time to wake Mama to nurse, and then I will burp and change my satiated charge, swaddle him and return him to his tiny bed.  Then I shall lie down on the mattress next to him for two and a half hours, until it is time to do it all again. 

Such anticipation, such buildup for the birth of a longed-for precious baby in today’s world!  I am unsure of how many ultrasounds Amy had, or how many I attended to see this baby boy’s growth in the womb … but one thing is for sure, God blew our minds when Bennett was born and became part of our family.  In the last couple days, I have had flashbacks of ultrasound photos and videos that recorded his pulsing heartbeat, juxtaposed with our eight and half pound baby who is actually here now!  Other flashes in my mind, David’s utterings about being ‘Fearfully and wonderfully made’… so I opened my Bible this morning, sitting on the floor of the baby’s small room to read from Psalm 139.

“For you created my inmost being;

       you knit me together in my mother's womb.  I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well.  My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in the secret place. 
When I was woven together in the depths of the earth, your eyes saw my unformed body.”

Looking at the tiny body of a perfectly formed infant, I couldn’t help but think of the Creator weaving him together, with no detail untouched.  ‘Look at your beautiful blue eyes, Baby,’ I have heard Amy say to him over and over. ‘Mom, look at his long fingers … oh, my goodness, did you see how much hair he has?  Who does he look like?’  On and on it goes.  ‘Fearfully and wonderfully made,’ I keep thinking, ‘formed in his mama’s womb by an all-knowing, oh, so loving God’ plays over and over in my mind.

A strong, little thigh, and a curved calf … ‘is this what kicked my ribs?’ Amy said with a laugh.

A tiny little foot with long, curled toes … whose footsteps only God in Heaven knows.

After spending a little time thinking about it all, I lay down on the mattress and thought, ‘But, why?  Why God, did you weave this baby together in his mother’s womb … for what purpose?  What does it all mean?’  I was so tired, needing to sleep, and yet, I was certain my line of thinking was worthwhile.  Because God created Bennett - a zygote, then a blastocyst, and eventually a viable human being, able to exist apart from his mama’s body, for himself… a person who would grow to know and love him … someone to enter into fellowship with him for relationship with him.

And so in giving life to a living, breathing human being, God births a soul who is born and chosen to know, love and live forever with God.  It is the Circle of Life … in particular, eternal life.