“The challenge for us as we pilgrim through life is to remain grateful and lean into the wonder that each of us carries.”
Penny Webb
I have just witnessed the birth of a baby boy. The mother had laboured whilst the father stood tentatively but engaged by her side, and after a number of hours, a child was born onto this earth. The mother and father gazed into each other’s eyes, and a smile of exhaustion, satisfaction and awe broke on both the parent’s face at the sound of the child’s first gasp of breath and a following cry. Then tears!
I have been privileged to give birth to twin boys and a girl. Without any question, they were the best two days of my life – I can still see, smell and almost touch the air of those two days like they were yesterday.
The birth of a child is a wonder. It is a wonder of life and spirituality that cuts through life’s mundane, usual and every day to gift a miracle not only to the parents but to all of us.
We must not forget this wonder.
Each of us holds the wonder of life whether we are 1 day old, or a 50+1 day old person. The challenge for us as we pilgrim through life is to remain grateful and lean into the wonder that each of us carries. It is often easy to become jaded, cynical, critical under the sometimes-burden of uncertainty and humanity’s carelessness, and yet we will always carry the wonder of life until our dying day.
This wonder which we carry is an individual power to give, to love, to care, to trust, to reassure, to provide, to bring peace.
Christmas celebrates the birth of Jesus – a wonder. This baby grew through childhood, adolescence, young adulthood into a man whose legacy and teachings remain today in the hearts of millions around this world – including me.
So, as we gather this Christmas with family and friends and gaze into the eyes of those around the Christmas table or over a drink by the tree, let us acknowledge and be grateful for the wonder of life both in another and in us.
You are a Wonder.