I held my friends' tiny newborn and the miracle of her filled me, made me heady. No matter how many times I see new life, I still swoon at the tiny fingers, delicate features, the smell of fresh, lovely baby, the miracle of new life wrapped up tight in a soft blanket. Babies speak to our souls without uttering a word.
It doesn't matter that new life is a common thing, emerging again and again and again, screaming into the world for centuries. It still remains extraordinary, arriving in a small package, but bringing a potent reminder of hope and innocence, of new beginnings and the circle that starts in a beautiful way, nudging us to remember that miracles really do happen every day.
Most of all, newborns remind us of the power of love, ours and God's. When I held my own babies, I was overwhelmed, unsteadied by a greater love than I had ever known. A tidal wave consumed me and I began to wonder. If I feel love this strong, how much more does God love me? Love us? I tried to imagine it, to get my head and heart around it, but I couldn't. God's Love is too big to be confined to human terms, a human mind, a human heart. And I marveled even more at that. Peace. Comfort. Father. Love.
And that is, perhaps, the great message newborns bring us. Consider your greatest love and multiply it exponentially. That's our God. That's His Love. Isn't it just like Him to use a tiny, helpless baby to remind us of something so overwhelming, so powerful, so great?