Welcome To This World!

This month, two wonderful young couples are celebrating the birth of their first child. I shared that good news with a friend and her response was not what I was expecting … “Why would they bring a child into the world at this time?” she said with fear in her voice. I stopped in my tracks.  Then  I remembered the fear in my mother’s voice when I told her I was expecting her first grandchild. 

Years later, a conversation with Mom helped me understand her unexpected response.   She and Dad had lived through WW11.  When I told her I was pregnant, it was 1970 and the Vietnam War and the Kent State Shootings were part of the US story at that time. In Canada, there was the October Crisis; the FLQ (Front de libération du Québec) which kidnapped British Diplomat James Cross and Quebec Minister Pierre Laporte who was later killed; the Canadian Prime Minister invoked the War Measures Act; and martial law and arrests in Quebec sparked national debate about civil liberties.

I understood my mother’s fear. And yet, even though there was a lot of anxiety about the future, the excitement and joy outweighed the fear for the future for me.

My friend’s question – “Why bring a child into the world at this time” – has been asked since time immemorial. 

The answer is always the same: 
“Hope … children bring hope.”
Hope!

Welcome to this world, Samantha Violet LaBine and Freya Camryn Quinn and all Newborn Babies.  🙂   
Welcome to this world, little ones! 
This world you’ve entered is big – very big! 

It has
… trees and animals, plants and bugs, galaxies and planets, rivers and oceans, stars and suns, fish and flowers and people.   
… people who speak different language. And people who can’t speak at all.
… people who have different-shaped and different-coloured eyes. And some who have none.
… people who are tall. While some are not.
… people with red hair, brown, white, yellow, black and colours in-between. And some with no hair at all.
… people with red skin, brown skin, black skin, yellow skin, white skin. And shades in-between.

This world you’ve entered is God’s creation.
It’s exciting … and full of wonder!
But it’s not nearly as exciting … as it will be. 
It’s not nearly as wonder-filled … as it could be.
You see, the world is waiting
… waiting for each of you to grow and learn
… waiting for you to become a child, then a teen, then a grown-up. 
There is a reason you are here.

As time passes,
you will discover your purpose,
and in yet-to-be-determined-ways,
you will contribute to the world in your own unique fashion. 
Yes, there is a reason you are here.  🙂

Welcome to this world, little ones!

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© June Maffin
https://www.soulistry.com/blog
soulistryjune@bsky.social
Image:  ©Kelvin Agustinus, Pexels, used with permission