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The Spark Inside Every Baby

Julie and I enjoyed a delightful evening with longtime friends for the Fourth of July. The day ended with 360 degrees of fireworks around their home in southwest Missouri.

There is a visceral excitement surrounding Independence Day. You can feel the explosive "pop" of fireworks as they launch from the ground and again when they burst apart mid-air. Every flash of light, every report -- the booms and the screams -- rekindles memories of my childhood in Colorado.

My family would pack up our lawn chairs and head to a nearby golf course to watch fireworks launched from the Boulder County Fairgrounds. More recently, we've joined my parents to watch displays against the backdrop of the Flatirons.

Yet for all of the similarities fireworks share, each is unique. There is fresh excitement for the observer because it's impossible to predict what the next display will look like, exactly.

If you are a parent, you understand that watching your children mature similarly excites and delights. If you hope to be a parent one day, you undoubtedly long for the moment when you will meet your baby for the first time and peer into his or her eyes for the first time.

You long to see the spark that lies inside each new life. Rest assured that as on the Fourth of July, you will see it. And it will be worth the wait.

Comments

Anonymous said…


As a Mother of many and grandmother and great grandmother to even more, it has always amazed me of the instant love one feels toward a brand new life. There in your arms is a person you never met before but you look at little messy human being and you know the primal urge to protect and love that wee person with all your heart.
Even today, caring for a tiny little girl who is not of our clan, I marvel at the beauty of that new skin, tiny feet,perfect minute finger and toe nails and the artistry of our Maker shines so clearly.
Children are a blessing even through those teenaged years when you wonder what you were thinking all those years ago.
July 5, 2018 at 5:51 AM
Nate said…
Love this comment! That is so true -- you love them in spite of whatever challenges or messy situations arise. You have to recall and cling to those beautiful early moments as they grow up ... and learn to talk back! :) But of course, that's the point, isn't it? To raise independent, well-grounded, morally compassed individuals. It isn't easy, but as you rightly noted, our young people reflect God's handiwork.
July 5, 2018 at 9:16 PM
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