As anyone who might actually be reading this knows, we just had the privilege of seeing our newest child enter the world. For those of us who have experienced this in their own lives, I know that the joy of this moment for us resonates with you in a way that it can’t unless you have been there. There is a feeling that comes from deep within you that cannot be explained in any other terms than “Wow!” It is a crescendo of sheer amazement that something that is a part of you (I mean this in more than just the sheer biology of the event) is now a part of someone else and they are in the world as the result of something beautiful that you and your marriage partner exulted in experiencing.
Of course, not all of this comes out in sentence structures and paragraphs when you are going through it, but I mean to say that all of those realities come to converge in one moment that defies human understanding. As I see Avery Bennett for the first time, there is something about seeing this person I have cried over and prayed over and thought over and worked towards and co-created (as God entrusted Adam to do with Eve not in an absolute sense of “creation ex nihilo”), that makes me want to be a better man (in somewhat of the same sense that Helen Hunt makes Jack Nicholson want to be a better man in “As Good As it Gets”).
In seeing him the past couple of days, I can already imagine (as I have with all of my kids) that there is no life fulfilling outside of their existence. This is not to make an idol of my kids (as I am certain this is possible), but to say that they add a dimension to my life that will forever alter me. As each child has entered our lives, it forever changes the dynamic of our family and I believe that this is at the essence of what community is all about. As God said to Himself (or His selves), “it is not good for man to be alone” and so he created Eve to be a human being that brought companionship to another human being, so it is with humanity that we do find real meaning in the relationships of life, and although I don’t go forward with a naïve expectation of unimpeded bliss, I do believe that Avery will bring me and Melissa and my other children and (hopefully) many others great cause to rejoice. In a few weeks, we will as a community affirm this collective hope for him in baptizing him into the body of Christ and this (as his birth has already) will stand amidst a handful of grand moments that seek to celebrate the gift of life that God has given us in this place called earth.
Of course, not all of this comes out in sentence structures and paragraphs when you are going through it, but I mean to say that all of those realities come to converge in one moment that defies human understanding. As I see Avery Bennett for the first time, there is something about seeing this person I have cried over and prayed over and thought over and worked towards and co-created (as God entrusted Adam to do with Eve not in an absolute sense of “creation ex nihilo”), that makes me want to be a better man (in somewhat of the same sense that Helen Hunt makes Jack Nicholson want to be a better man in “As Good As it Gets”).
In seeing him the past couple of days, I can already imagine (as I have with all of my kids) that there is no life fulfilling outside of their existence. This is not to make an idol of my kids (as I am certain this is possible), but to say that they add a dimension to my life that will forever alter me. As each child has entered our lives, it forever changes the dynamic of our family and I believe that this is at the essence of what community is all about. As God said to Himself (or His selves), “it is not good for man to be alone” and so he created Eve to be a human being that brought companionship to another human being, so it is with humanity that we do find real meaning in the relationships of life, and although I don’t go forward with a naïve expectation of unimpeded bliss, I do believe that Avery will bring me and Melissa and my other children and (hopefully) many others great cause to rejoice. In a few weeks, we will as a community affirm this collective hope for him in baptizing him into the body of Christ and this (as his birth has already) will stand amidst a handful of grand moments that seek to celebrate the gift of life that God has given us in this place called earth.
2 comments:
Looking forward to the Genesis of Avery evolving in our midst!
I am still in amazement that he is already here.
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