The Absolute Wonder and Joy

Jake Frost relishes the joy and wonder of experiencing a new set of "firsts" with his newborn child.

After almost a decade since our last child was born, baby number five has arrived!

And we thought we’d already done the last of our “firsts” (first day of kindergarten, first Communion), but no, we have a whole new set of firsts awaiting us: first step, first word, first name!

Didn’t think we’d be picking out another one of those.

But we forgot: the plan is His, not ours.

The acute realization of that fact, which occurred nine months ago when we discovered that the arc of our lives was going to follow a different trajectory than what we had mapped out for ourselves, prompted a poetical effusion:

The Plan is His

By Jake Frost

In a moment all things can change
And circumstances rearrange
So all you saw ahead for you
Turns suddenly to something new

For while it’s true there is a plan,
A course our Lord plots for each man,
Remember that the plan is His
And seldom what you think it is

null

Click to tweet:
Thank you, Jesus, for the blessings You give us, even the ones we didn’t think to ask for, the ones we didn’t even know we needed. #CatholicMom

Since our Little Wonder was born, people have asked me if the old baby skills are coming back: diaper changes, car seats, the singing of songs to soothe a fussy infant. They are; where recollections were fuzzy muscle memory remained.

But what’s come back more than anything has been the absolute wonder and joy of a little baby.

The first time I held our Little Wonder it hit me, and it does again every time I snuggle her in my arms: the gift, the blessing, the beauty, of human life.

It changes your perspective, your understanding of the world, of what matters, of everything—even the trajectory you see for your own life, even the trajectory you want for your own life.

Thank you, Jesus, for the blessings You give us, even the ones we didn’t think to ask for, the ones we didn’t even know we needed.

null