You musta been a beautiful baby

Remember that old song? One of the lines went "you musta been a beautiful baa-by, 'cause Baby, look at you now!" These days I'm not nearly as fond of the "look at you now" as I am the "look at you then." The older I get, the more I wax nostalgic. GRIN

When you are blessed, as I was, to be born into a family of photographers, a huge portion of your heritage is recorded in pictures. Our wealth of family photographs becomes more treasured to me with every passing year. The first year or so of my life is recorded with studio portraits almost every month and literally thousands of snapshots in between.

July 1945. Beverly Carol Greenway was born in St. Augustine, Florida to 21 year old parents, Harry and Dolores (Tucker) Greenway, who had been married just over 2 years. I'm 11 days old in this picture and snuggled in the bassinet my mother had lavishly adorned during the months they awaited the birth of the baby daughter they longed for, planned and prepared for.

Two months old. Beginning to hold my head up for longer periods, follow things with my eyes, and respond to voices and external stimuli.



My mother dutifully recorded every little developmental milestone I reached in my baby book. Most of her detailed notes were accompanied by a snapshot. I wish I had been as tenatious about completing my children's baby books! At 63 year, I can't even adequately express what a great joy it is to me to read my mother's handwriting on the worn and yellowed pages of my baby book and sense the love and excitement that was in her heart when she wrote them.



How doubly exciting to know that even before I was born and reaching these little milestones of development that my parents so carefully watched, my Heavenly Father watched and recorded the milestones of my development as He "knit me together in my mother's womb." (Ps. 139:13)




That same scripture says that my Heavenly Father "created my inmost being." Here I am at 6 or 7 months old. Can you see that "inmost being" . . . that personality . . . that spirit that makes me uniquely "me" beginning to shine?



I think, as parents, we sometimes look at our babies and naively think we will mold them into the person we want them to become. And, I suppose, we do have a certain measure of influence. But, more and more, I am becoming aware of that unique "inmost being" that is created within each of us by Father God - The spirit place within us that hungers for God and can only ever be truly satisfied BY Him.

As parents today, do you respond to your children in the uniqueness of their individual personalities? Do you pray for their Spirit? Do you pray their spirit will embrace Christ at an early age? Do you pray for their wills? Do you ask God to help their wills be yielded to His?

Here I am at almost 1 year old. I was full of enthusiasm and joy of life - a bubbly little toddler. And why wouldn't I have been? I was a blessed little girl, the center of my parents attention and affection.

But what about little girls (and boys) who were not blessed as I was to have parents who adored their every smile and indulged their every giggle? The psalmist says they too are "fearfully and wonderfully made." Whatever the circumstances of our birth, our Heavenly Father was involved in the way we were made and he cares about our lives and development.



All the days ordained for us were written in His book before one of them came to be. (Ps. 139:16) He CHOSE us in Him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless. (Eph. 1:4) And may I just give Him a shout out here -- when you walk with Him in holiness (set apart for His use), your life will be full to over-flowing with joy and enthusiasm.

At 15 months, the curls had come in full force. Just call me Shirley Temple. Mom says she cut my hair by pulling out a ringlet, snipping it off and letting it spring back into place.

Can you picture that little toddler mouth praising the Lord? Mom wrote in my baby book that I sang "Jesus Loves Me" long before this age and that a few short months after this picture when she served me a second helping of pancakes, I raised my hands and said, "Praise the Lord! more pancakes!"

Psalm 8:2 says: "From the lips of children and infants you have ordained praise . ." I'm so thankful I had parents who taught me the joy of praising God when I was just a child. Many of you weren't that fortunate. But aren't you glad that it's never too late to learn to praise the Lord?

After all, it's what He created us to do. Ephesians 1 reminds us that it was our Father's will to bless us (v.3), to choose us (v.4), to adopt us (v.5), and to accept us (v.6) and that He did it for the praise of His glorious grace (v.6). It tells us that the Son worked to redeem us (v.7), to forgive us (v.7), to give us wisdom and understanding (v.8) and revelation (v.9) and that He did it for the praise of His glory (v.12). It tells us that the Spirit witnesses to the Father's will and the Son's work by sealing us in Him for all eternity (v.13) and guaranteeing our inheritance (v.14) - and He does it for the praise of His glory (v.14). Oh folks, we were MADE to praise!!

Will you take just a few minutes right now to give Him some praise for the way he created your inmost being? For the fact that you are fearfully and wonderfully made and His works in you are truly wonderful? For the fact that His thoughts toward you - no matter what your circumstance - are as numberless as the grains of sand? Read Psalm 139. God loves you with an everlasting love. Praise His holy name!