NEWBORN BABIES

BRING OUT MY MATERNAL INSTINCTS.

        {Image by David Woodall}

Did it begin with baby dolls dressed in flannel gowns & matching booties or starched dresses under the Christmas tree ? The new doll smell drifted up to my nose as I quickly named them. I played mommy; the make-believe feeding, dressing, and rocking baby dolls came naturally.

Each year Mom & Dad added childcare essentials, placing dolls in toy baby strollers, cribs or high chairs under our Christmas tree. They were too big to wrap but that afforded me the added pleasure of seeing them at first glance. Mom lovingly displayed my dolls under drooping light-decked branches.

Playing dolls prepared me for real-life babysitting jobs. I was caring for newborns by the early age of eleven, quickly bonding with the bundles of joy. Infants were dependent on me and gave unconditional love. Holding a contented baby in my arms made the hours of clock watching worthwhile.

Baby Jesus grew to sacrificial lamb, willingly giving His life that we might receive everlasting life. Christmas led down the path to Calvary. We open Christmas packages in both celebration of His birth and resurrection. Grieving followers discovered His open and empty tomb. Jesus lives and waits to wrap us in His blanket of grace.

“But God being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved) and raised us up with Him, and seated us with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus (Ephesians 2:4-6 NAS).”