The Power of a Child

                A woman giving birth to a child has pain because her time has come; but when her baby is born she forgets the anguish because of her joy that a child is born into the world. —John 16:21.

                Hilda Braslow struck an imposing figure. She carried herself with a military bearing that came from years of service in Her Majesty’s Army. Retired with the rank of major, she brooked no disrespect from tenants at the apartment complex she managed. In a loud voice, she instructed prospects of the rules and policies concerning tenancy in the Cherry Road apartments in Memphis. You dared not think of being late with the rent or of being disrespectful in her presence.

                When she entered an apartment where there was a newborn child, however, a remarkable transformation came over her. The loud, brash landlady became the soften-spoken grandmother. Tenderly, she spoke to the sleeping infant. Tentatively, she caressed his cheek and brushed his fine hair.

                What is it about a baby that affects people so? We’ve seen infants compel dignified men to utter gibberish and make silly faces. They’ve been known to melt the heart of the roughest line foreman, and turn roughnecks into Jell-O.

                A newborn once brought shepherds out of the fields, Magi from the East, and angels from heaven to marvel at it. It is significant that Christ came to earth as a baby, frail and totally dependant on others. The Christ child brought joy into Simeon’s heart and fear into Herod’s and a sword into Mary’s. He entered the world the same way he departed it: wrapped in cloths. God wrought His mighty act of salvation not with earthquake and fire, but through the everyday sound of a baby’s cry.

                Few things incite more hope than an infant. Her parents hope for her bright future, that she perhaps will fulfill their unrealized dreams. Her grandparents rejoice that there is another chance for them to pass on the family heritage, another child to fill with love, another life to lead to Jesus.

                Fitting it is that the most appropriate metaphor Christ could find to describe the joy of his resurrection and glory was a mother’s birth-pains followed by rapturous wonder as she gazes at her precious child. Such a thing is truly proof of God’s existence: nothing else could explain such a miracle as a baby’s birth.