Today I’ve had babies on the brain, probably because one of mine had a birthday today. It may also be because another of mine is soon to deliver a new grandbaby. Mostly, though, I think it’s just because I love babies.

Each birth is a miracle, not a single one “unwanted” or “unplanned” by God. Every child is born for lofty divine purposes, equipped with a soul that will live throughout eternity.

God wouldn’t have had to propagate the human race by bringing miniature people to earth through direct participation of a man and a woman. He could have brought smaller adult-lookalike “children” to the families of his choice just like he brought Eve to Adam, arriving with a new addition and saying, “This one’s yours.”

Instead he designed people to come from their mothers’ bodies in miniature, endowed with tiny fingers and toes, chubby arms and legs, and incredible cheeks. I can’t wait to talk to Eve one day and ask her what she thought when she was holding newborn Cain, the very first baby. She referred to him as a “man”, probably meaning “human”. Surely she was in awe of his soft skin and sweet scent, wondering if and how he would some day morph into a person like the adult Adam.

God surprised us by arranging for new human beings to arrive on the earth in a clever way wrapped in adorable bodies, but he’s been delivering surprises in many categories ever since. We can listen to “Science Friday” on public radio or watch “Nova” on TV or read any source that investigates God’s creation, both macro and micro, and see there’s no end-point to what he’s made and the ideas he’s come up with. The more new things science discovers, the more reasons we have to stand amazed.

Today as I talked with birthday “boy” Hans, I had the pleasure of participating by phone, from 4000 miles away, in the bath routine of my 3 British grandchildren. “Mee Mee’s going to come upstairs with us tonight,” he said, “so we can have bath time together!”

Their squeals of excitement came back through my speaker phone. “Shirts are coming off now,” Hans said, “and now the nappies. Oh what a big tummy you have!” (Katy’s giggles came over the air waves, too, as she joined in the fun.)

I could just “see” their pudgy toddler bodies lined up in the tub, “…like the three stooges,” Hans said. Hearing them splash, and listening to these young parents laugh with their children again and again was a gift my son gave to me on his own birthday.

Babies bring enthusiasm, cuteness and joy into our world. When God decided to get into the baby business, it was a spectacular idea. And even Jesus enjoyed handling them.

“People were bringing babies to Jesus for him to place his hands on them. ‘Whoever welcomes one of these little children in my name welcomes me.’” (Luke 18:15, Mark 9:37)