(“The views expressed on this blog post are mine alone and do not necessarily reflect the views of my employer.”)
Mothers and fathers, celebrate your toddlers, newborns, and baby bumps, because today is Baby Day!
While the orgin and originator of this day is unknown, it is celebrated on May 2, and it is the golden opportunity to be thankful for your child; to celebrate them(Baby Day, May 2, at Holiday Insights). While I’m not a father, I can only imagine the reactions of a parent when they see their child for the first time on the delivery day. When I do become a parent, I’m hoping my reaction is somewhere along the lines of, “You are the most precious thing I have ever seen. I’m glad to finally have you in my world, in my arms. Lord, please give me strength and wisdom to raise my child. Thank for giving them to me.”
To those who are unable to have children, I besiege you, don’t give up hope. If you’re a believer, take what I’m about to say as fact, if you’re not, take it as inspiration. In the Bible, Sarah, the wife of Abraham was barren for many years, unable to have life beyond her own. One day, God told Abraham that his wife would finally have a son Sarah, overhearing the news, laughed because both she and Abraham were elderly. She was well past the years of childbearing(Genesis 18:1-12 NKJV).
“And the Lord said to Abraham, ‘Why did Sarah laugh, saying, ‘Shall I surely bear a child, since I am old’ “Is anything too hard for the Lord? At the appointed time I will return to you, according to the time of life, and Sarah shall have a son””(Genesis 18:3,14 NKJV).
In Genesis 21: 1-3, God keeps His promise and blessed Sarah with a son in her old age, and Abraham called his name Isaac, which translates to “make laughter.”
“And Sarah said, ‘God has made me laugh, and all who hear will laugh with me”(Genesis 20:6 NKJV)
This is an excellent example of how everything is easy for God. I encourage you, if you’re ever facing the impossible, look to your Heavely Father, because through Him, anything is possible.
One of the benefits of working in a hospital is the concept of life. At my job, we have this adorable lullaby that plays everytime a baby is born. Between my eight hour shift, that lullaby can go off at least 8 times, and that’s just during my shift. I never get sick of it. According to the United Nation’s Children’s Fund(UNICEF), an average of 350,000 babies are born each day(“How Many Babies Are Born Each Day?”)
In the Bible, the growing number of people frightened a certain individual. That individual was the pharaoh in Exodus chapter 1. At that time, the Israelites were enslaved in Egypt, and they were multiplying. This troubled pharaoh because he feared the rising numbers would mean one day the slaves would rise against him. He thought it best to have all the male Hebrew babies be cast into the river(Exodus 1:7-22). I had to pause writing for a few seconds to just take in that any human being could so something so cruel. I can only imagine the great cry of not only all those precious lives lost, but of all the parents who had their children snatched away from them. Lord only knows what good lives those lost babies could have lived. All those parents could do was speculate what life might have been like. My heart goes out to anyone who has ever lost a baby.
There was one brave mother who couldn’t part ways with her child. Upon seeing how beautiful her baby was, she hid him. But after three months she could no longer keep him a secret. So she made perhaps one of the toughest decisions any parent can make- sending her child way. She placed her baby in a basket and placed it in a the riverbank(Exodus 2:1-3) Parents, could you do it? Could you let your child go, even if it meant saving them, yet possibly not ever seeing them again?
Luckily, for the child, he was found by pharaoh’s daughter and was not destroyed, because she felt compassion for him(Exodus 2:5,6). That child was Moses, who is known to many as the Great Deliver and Lawgiver. Moses would go on to do great things throughout his life- deliver the people of Israel out of Egypt; receive the Ten Commandments from God, and lead the people of Israel for 40 years. Politicians of the world think they have a hard time leading; Moses had to deal with a stubborn people for four decades! Parents, you may not know it, but your little bundle of joy may be destined to do wonderful things. Not just wonderful things like inventing something; solving incurable diseases, or writing dozens of songs, but doing God’s wonders.
Parents, celebrate your child. Raise them the best way that you know possible. Protect them as you would your spouse and yourself. Let them know early on that they are precious, because as the ol’ song about Jesus goes, “they are precious in his sight.” Happy Baby Day.
Sources:
Baby Day, May 2, at Holiday Insights. N.p., n.d. Web. 02 May 2017.
“How Many Babies Are Born Each Day?” The World Counts. N.p., n.d. Web. 02 May 2017.
The holy bible: New King James version. Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson, Inc., 1982. Print.
DavidSpeaks 
