There is something very special about welcoming a new life.This week Robyn and I welcomed our fourth grandchild (our first granddaughter). I’ve already been called a doting grandfather.
It is with a sense of wonder that I look at this tiny new person. What will the world be like in which she will grow up? What will those little hands hold? What paths will those feet walk and what sights will those eyes see? New life brings with it hope and a sense of joyous expectation. Hope that a future generation will learn from the mistakes my generation made, that a future generation will make better decisions and take steps with greater wisdom.
Perhaps I am being unrealistic. Yet somehow the fact that new lives are brought into the world every day is a sign that while each generation makes its own mistakes, hope never dies.
One of my favourite writers Henri Nouwen said: “A great deal of activity in our world, a great deal of hyperactivity, comes from the avoidance of relationships: we are afraid of encountering people, of striking up friendships with them; of feeling responsible for them, of sharing our weaknesses and becoming dependent on one another. Fantasy is an attempt to run away from something. Hope stems from the acceptance of reality as it is”
Welcome Audrey Matilda Douglas and thankyou for bringing a new breath of life and hope into the world.
By the way, in the interests of fairness to the cousins and the bragging of a doting grandfather, I’ve included a picture of the grandsons.
INSPIRE NEWSCAST 