Today I saw a six-week-old baby smile. You would think that I had never seen a baby smile before! Maybe that would make some people call me naïve (or should I say “dense”), saying “she wakes up in a new world every morning.” I suspect that my own three children’s first smiles astonished me some thirty+ years ago even though I had read Dr. Spock and every other baby book I could get my hands on, but, when my first grandchild Bryce smiled at me fourteen years ago, I was stunned! “How do they learn to smile so early?” I asked Jennifer. “I just can’t believe they smile at this age!” “How can that be?” Incredulously, Braden did the same just about exactly two years later.
I love surprises. And, you know, I never saw it coming with any of the six grandchildren who followed. “Amazing! How do they smile so early? How do they learn that?” The baby’s smile reminded me that, even at my age, every day is still fresh and new.
“This I recall to my mind, therefore I have hope.
The Lord’s lovingkindnesses indeed never cease.
For His compassions fail not.
They are new every morning.
Great is Your faithfulness.” Lamentations 3:23
Imagine a God who created a brain capable of responding to the love in a mother’s face and rewarding weeks of sleepless nights with a smile! Only a joyful God would think to create such an extravagant gift as a smile! As we say in Louisiana,“lagniappe", a little something extra. Yes, every day is indeed a new day. I never want to lose the wonder of waking up knowing that on “this” day God’s lovingkindnesses invite me to be a little “naïve” – yes, even childlike -- and expect to be surprised, even stunned, by all He has planned for me!
