A Miracle

I waited a few days to write this entry on the blog.  I wanted to make sure the emotions were right. 

We had sat down for the 4^th of July dinner at our place and had invited a couple of friends over.  In the middle of it, the phone rings.  I told my wife, Judy, not to answer it since we were eating.  She did and I’m glad she did.

Our youngest son, Nick, was on the other end of the phone to tell us that we were grandparents for the 9^th time.  Graham Wesley Heeren had been born less than two hours before the call.  We were at the hospital 90 minutes later.

It was the first time since my daughter was born just over 26 years ago that I had held a human being who four hours earlier was not in our world.  It is really hard to put into words the emotions that were churning inside. Here was this fragile person in my hands who had his full life ahead of him.  Here was a person who would be influenced by dozens and dozens of people over the next several decades that would shape and mold him yet I did not know how that will turn out.

 But most importantly I held in my hands a miracle.  There is no other accurate way to describe it.  When you consider the complexities of the human body, it was a miracle. And I know of only one place where miracles originate. The newborn is also a gift.  It is a gift to be treasured, to be nurtured and to be appreciated.

I am pretty certain those attributes will be a part of Graham’s life.  We can only hope that every child, who should be viewed as a miracle, has an opportunity to experience those attributes as well.