Friday, February 5, 2010

New Life!


Hello baby girl! I've been waiting a long time to make this introduction. You are just three days old as I write this. I looked into your cherub face just minutes after you were born, and do believe that I had just witnessed the sweetest thing in the world. Both your mother and your grandmother are drop dead gorgeous ladies, but I still think that you are the prettiest thing I've ever lain my eyes on. I have often wondered what a grandchild of ours might look like. And though my common sense tells me that you had absolutely nothing to do with the way you look, you have out done my every expectation. The fact that you are here is one of life's most wonderful miracles. The fact that I am here to see you ushered into this world is another of life's amazing miracles. I never figured to remain alive long enough to see my own children brought into this world, much less their children.

As I waited in the lounge for you to be born, my mind went back over the last hundred years to when I married your grandmother. Though it hasn't been nearly that long, it feels as though it were over a century ago that I first laid eyes on her. I knew the very second that I saw her walk through the door that I had loved her all my life, but just hadn't met her yet. I felt the same way when I saw your mother for the first time....like she had always been there in spirit, in my heart, I just hadn't put a face to that form of love before. Now seeing you, the same fantastic wonder of it is renewed. This kind of Love isn't how we feel, it is life that exists within us, waiting to emerge. It is the spirit of all that is pure, that is joy, that is happiness that resides within us each day. Some folks only have the luxury of casting their eyes on it but once in a lifetime. I have the incredible joy of casting it on a third generation of beautiful souls made manifest in flesh.

Seeing you lying their, all pink, and rosy in your perfection, I couldn't help but wonder at the richness of God's love for us. That He would have created the capacity to fill to perfection, the void that each of us possess in our hearts, is absolutely amazing to me. My life was incomplete before I met your grandmother. I walked the face of this earth a half man. Though my heart beat in my chest, it pulsed without reason, nor purpose. Marrying her stamped a mote of completion upon my soul. Her giving birth to your mother lent purpose to my life. Your mother giving birth to you offers proof beyond doubt of His love for me. Flawed and foolish though I am, God loves me enough to give me a granddaughter to further my completion. You have uncles that are the very apples of my eye. They are my hands, my heart, and my mind carried to the next generation. Yet it is through the heart of the women in my life that God expresses the tender side of His love for me. Your grandmother amplifies the gentle side of me, your mother is proof that, though often hidden, it exists within me to pass on. You show that it is strong enough to survive the generations. Through the nurturing of your mother, supported by the strong hand of your father, you will grow to be a shining example of the love that this world so desperately needs.

My faith in God is renewed. My resolve to be more intentional with my relationship with Him is strengthened. My desire to be a better husband, father, and friend is fortified by your very presence. I have loved the thought of you for oh so long. And now that you are here, a new life for your parents, your grandparents, and this world, I find that my job has just begun. I do love you sweet baby! And because true love never dies, I will always be here for you.

Sincerely,
Grandpa "Pops" Keith

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