Life is a Miracle

On this Saturday morning, I was rudely woken up by the phone. I groaned. My brother had just changed the ring tone the day before, and it was not a pleasant sound to wake up to. Stumbling out my warm, comfy bed, I ambled down the stairs, just in time to pick up the phone before the ringing stopped.

I glanced at the caller ID. Oh, it's Dad. I knew that my dad was going to drive my mom over to her weekend writing retreat early in the morning, and was calling to make sure I was awake. "Hello, Dad?" I rubbed my eyes, still groggy.

"You up yet, hon?"

"Just did." I yawned.

"How about the boys?"

"No. I'm the only one awake right now." I looked at the clock and groaned. 8:45.

"Well, I'm around twenty minutes away from home."

"Okay."

"Oh, and Auntie S. gave birth today."

Now I was wide awake. "Really?! That's great!" I peppered him with questions. "Is it a boy or girl? When was the birth? How much did it weight? Is Auntie S. all right?"

He laughed at my excitement. "Yes, she's all right! It's a boy, and from what Mom said, he weights around 5 pounds, 12 ounces. I don't know any other details."

"So Uncle M. and Auntie S. hasn't chosen a name for him yet?"

"Not that I know of. I'll be home soon, and Isaac and Titus might be coming over, so make sure the house is ready." [Isaac and Titus are our young cousins, Uncle M. and Auntie S.'s sons.]

"Okay, Dad. Drive safely!"

So that was basically how the conversation went, to the best of my memory. I trotted upstairs to jot the big news down while it was still fresh in my mind.

It was later on, when my uncle dropped Isaac and Titus off at noon, did I get all the details I wanted. Apparently, they were planning to name the baby boy Calvin; which, otherwise, if it had been a girl, would've been an Eleanor. 

So here I am, sitting next to my sleeping toddler cousin and writing this little story.
As Albert Einstein once said: "There are only two ways to live your life. One is as though nothing is a miracle. The other is as though everything is a miracle." And I agree with George Bernard Shaw when he said: "Miracles, in the sense of phenomena we cannot explain, surround us on every hand: life itself is the miracle of miracles."

Once again, I am struck by just how great our God is. Truly, He is the sole Giver of life, and nothing else can do what He does: ex nihilo. [Latin: from nothing] 

Soli Deo gloria! [Latin: to God alone be the glory!]