Reunion

If you have read my blog before you may have picked up on the fact that I dearly love my nieces and nephews. They bring such a joy and light into my life. I have moments when I just absolutely fall in love with these little guys, and moments when I fall in love all over again. They just have a way of getting a hold of my heart.

I forewarned that I would likely be blogging about the next newest one when they come along. So, today my brother and his wife welcomed a new beautiful baby girl into the family, and I'm just grinning ear to ear. Sadly for me her family lives quite a distance away, so I'm not sure when I'll get to hold her for the first time. But, with little Anna-Elizabeth that moment of absolutely loving her has already happened.

Several months back my brother and his wife learned that there was a possibility that Anna-Elizabeth had a condition which had she tested positive for would have meant that her chances of surviving until birth were not great, and chances of long term survival were slim to none. That was wrenching news for me to hear, and I'm just an aunt. I can't imagine how it was for her parents.

In my worry and anxiety over my nieces’ welfare I turned to God in prayer. The answer I received was the tremendous blessing of a sense of who Anna-Elizabeth is. I got to sense her goodness and to know that for her family, including good ol' aunt Sarah, that she would bring a unique and sweet spirit. She is simply lovely. She is equipped with one of the most powerful things the world needs right now, peace. From that moment on I felt like I already knew her.

The testing for that particular condition obviously turned out great. This sweet little girl looks to live a long happy and blessed life. It is such a blessing to know she is here safe and sound. I feel like when I do get the chance to hold her and spend time with her it won't be a first meeting, it will be more like a reunion.

Life is full of sweet reunions, sweet memories and tender mercies. The Lord blesses us with reminders of who we all truly are, His. We're all connected. Days like today are the days that I can see more clearly that we really are each others' brothers and sisters and should in reality treat our meetings with each other as reunions. Wouldn't it be cool if everyday everybody saw each other more clearly? Should not these sweet reunions reinvigorate within us the reality of our compassion for one another? The connections we have should motivate us in a great and real way to give goodness, to stand for what is right and true and precious, to protect virtue and morality, not just for our own sakes but also for our precious loved ones. To hold a loved one with an assurance that your love has been manifest is a sweet reunion indeed. And we ought to seek for those as often as we are able.

Life is good and blessed. I'm grateful for days like today to remind me of that, and to be able to recall later. God bless us, as He continually and faithfully has. God bless the good people and the good families of the earth. May we see more clearly His love for us, and see more clearly the love we already possess somewhere within us for each other.