A week ago tonight (Thanksgiving Eve) my wife and I received some of the best news parents can ever get. Our oldest daughter and her husband are going to have a baby in 2011. Can't believe it, but I'm a grandfather and my wife is a grandmother. I know the baby isn't even born yet, but if you believe as I do that life begins at conception, then the baby in my daughter's womb is alive. That's amazing to think about.
And that's exactly what the psalmist David wrote all those thousands of years ago,"For You formed my inward parts; You wove me in my mother's womb." Inside my daughter--right now--my grandchild is being woven together by Almighty God (my daughter told me yesterday that at this stage in development the baby is the size of a green olive). David continues in verses 14-15, "I will give thanks to You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made; wonderful are Your works, and my soul knows it very well. My frame was not hidden from You, when I was made in secret, and skillfully wrought in the depths of the earth."
Now I know it happens thousands, even maybe millions, of times everyday but I've got to tell you this is different. This is special. I've been remembering back to the middle and late 80s when our two daughters were born and when the feelings of inadequacy and pride all at the same time welled up inside of me. I know I walked out of the hospital both times with my chest protruding just a little. But what am I going to feel like when my grandchild is born? I don't think inadequacy will be in the mix. That's for the new Dad and Mom. Happiness and sheer delight, I think, will rule the day as I thank my God for His provision and His goodness and grace in their lives.
The very next verse in Psalm 139 says, "Your eyes have seen my unformed substance; and in Your book were all written. The days that were ordained for me, when as yet there was not one of them" (v. 16). Since last Wednesday evening I've been thinking, "Should I by him a Christmas present? Will she like to play the mandolin (she will if I have anything to say about it :). Will he be a Minnesota Twins fan? Will she like to go fishing with me? What nickname will fit him to a t? At what age will she bend the knee to God and receive Christ as Lord and Savior?
I have a picture hanging in my study of my daughter at the start of her wedding ceremony just before I gave her away to her husband. That day two years ago I was overwhelmed with thoughts concerning how it felt just like yesterday that she was cradled in my arms, even though twenty-three years had seemed to have gone by in a flash.
And what am I thinking today? Today I'm thinking, "My baby is going to have a baby?!!!"
