Plain Talk Vol.19, No.3, Pg.6 - Cedar Park Church of Christ

Vol. 19, No. 3	May, 1982
*NURSERY REFLECTIONS*

"Whew, everyone is finally gone. The nurse will bring my baby over to the nursery window. I can have a few quiet minutes to just look and think.

"Isn't he something? My baby! I am supposed to be prepared for all this, but I am far from it. I have inspected dozens of babies at this window, but this is completely different — he is mine.

"People say he looks like me. I do not know. Truthfully, he looks a lot like the other babies — with more hair. Grandma would scream! She avows he is the most beautiful baby in the world. But then, how could he look just like me? Doubtless she sees with her heart rather than her eyes. Yet one day he may be "a chip off the old block." That he may look like me and even act like me is a delightful thought. And if he is to be like me, then I must be the kind of person I can be proud for him to be.

"Somehow, I feel suddenly old. I am far removed from the young fellow who came in here yesterday. And by the time he is grown up I will not be the same. Age and decay will have marked my body. We can never be boys together. I must be the father — how strange the sound — while he is the child. As he grows up, I will grow old. Enough! Away melancholy mood! "Look at those tiny fingers. What an amazing creation — this child of mine! He has all his many parts and they all work. Thank God for a whole and healthy baby. I cannot express how grateful I feel. Look across the room at that tiny deformed infant. He is not half of normal size, and he has all those tubes attached.

How sad his parents must feel. I feel guilty for being so blessed and so happy.

"He is screaming his head off. I never saw such a face! He wants some thing, but all he can do is cry. He is utterly helpless. He must depend on me completely. What a frightening responsibility. I must not fail.

"Just think. In that little bundle is more than just a duplicate of my person. The "father of spirits" has conferred on him an immortal and an eternal spirit. He has a face like me and a spirit like God. A few months ago he did not even exist, but now he will forever live.

"What a thought! What consequence! What will he be spiritually? Where will he spend eternity? What a small thing that I shall teach him to walk and talk. I must train him to serve God and to love truth. I must see that his soul grows as his body does. How can I? I know so little. Yet how awful it would be to fail.

"O God, you have blessed me with a baby — the delight of my heart. I am afraid, Lord. My responsibility is so awesome: my ignorance and weakness is so great. Lord, give me wisdom and insight as I strive to train him to be righteous. Help me to be a good example. Please Lord, I don't want to be a stumbling block to him. Help me to love him enough to do whatever he needs — no matter how hard. Help me, Lord, to make him what you — and I — want him to be." Joe Fitch 6326 Peacepipe San Antonio, TX.

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