Babies Change Everything

The world is still rejoicing these days over the birth of the royal baby, Prince George of Cambridge.  His arrival was heralded by commemorative coins and gun salutes, and the world now eagerly awaits the day he will become King of England. My family has had an addition of its own recently, as well – my sister had a baby girl on August 8. Despite the obvious differences between the two new arrivals, they both are having the same effect on their respective families. Sleepless nights and altered routines aside, they have brought tremendous hope and joy to these two sets of families that could only have been imagined before. It reminds me of the verse I Corinthians 13:12 – “For now we see in a mirror, dimly, but then face to face.” Ultrasound pictures can only give a dim picture at best of the new life that’s about to come into the world, but that just gives that first face-to-face experience a fire all its own.

The fuel for the fire, of course, is the painful labour endured by the mother directly before the miracle comes forth. Are you in a season of labour right now, longing for the birth of a miracle? Just as with the birth of a baby, we don’t know when the labour will start, when it will end, or how long it will endure. We can try to plan and prepare in our own strength, but it is God who will bring the miracle in His perfect time, and with no guarantees for an easy delivery. However, He does promise us that the joy of the miracle will completely overshadow the pain of the labour that preceded it: “A woman, when she is in labor, has sorrow because her hour has come; but as soon as she has given birth to the child, she no longer remembers the anguish, for joy that a human being has been born into the world.  Therefore you now have sorrow; but I will see you again and your heart will rejoice, and your joy no one will take from you” John 16:21-22.

We must also remember that when our miracle ‘baby’ comes forth, it is just the beginning. We must dedicate it back to God. Babies grow to influence many other people, and have babies of their own. So whatever your dream is, when it arrives, don’t hold on to it too tightly. Allow God to use it for His glory and the extension of His kingdom.

After all, the birth of the royal baby can barely hold a candle to the One born some 2000 years ago - heralded by songs of brilliant angels that filled the night sky - for we know that His dominion will be from sea to sea, and of His kingdom there will be no end.

Ruth-Ellen W.