aleena was born at 1 am today- sharing a birthday with my mom. everything went ok, sarah’s doing good. i can’t wait till i get to visit with this new little niece of mine!! i must say a highlight of the whole experience is my saintly mother-in-law and her sheer love for sarah and this new grandbaby. it’s so exciting to see. its very different from the grandma marj love that i’ve seen thus far… it’s hard to explain. but it’s beautiful.
it’s also straight up crazy that this thing, that for 9 months has only been an idea- “the baby”- is now a person. she’s got personality, she’s got life of her own. crazy. now, when it comes to the nature/nurture debate, i seem to fall pretty heavy on the nurture side- i feel we are products of our environment. but yet little aleena is not just some lifeless piece of clay ready to be molded, though surely her experiences will shape her. she’s very much a distinct creation of God’s own work. amazing.
i just sent kristy an im yesterday asking if we really can imagine things we’ve never seen. for instance, when i call people for work i try to imagine what they look like. i was imagining one man yesterday and then it struck me that he looked distinctly like larry hays, a friend from 7th grade. i thought, “is it even possible for me to create in my head an image that has not been influenced by the other things i know?” i don’t think it is. or, if it is possible, it’s a gift, which is probably why i’m jealous of most artists.
but the crazy thing is, God does this on a daily, if not hourly basis. he creates, not just based on what he knows, but on what he wants to give. wow, i’m having a deja vu moment, because that phrase came to me in a dream earlier this week and it’s just coming to me. crazy. but back to it. God doesn’t have Larry Hays on the brain when he creates Aleena. He creates Aleena based upon himself. isn’t that phenomenel?
i feel the need to explain my deja vu phrase, “God creates, not just based on what he knows, but on what he wants to give.” its like, God’s creativity isn’t hindered because he’s made 867 children this way, so the next one will be like it. God doesn’t fall prey to the “its just the way it is”. instead, he loves and creates because it’s what he does. not in the “i don’t want to give you a nose, so i won’t” kind of way, but more like when a little child paints a picture and i suddenly have blonde hair instead of red, because that’s what the kid wants to give me. it’s how s/he sees me. it’s like an unhindered view of true beauty. that’s what God has.
man, i wish i had an artistic spirit.
i agree shell. that we’re formed by our environment… but, if that was all, where woulg God be? so i like what you said about not only being clay to be molded. i think we’re definitely created with our character, and individuality in God’s creation.
And that’s interesting what you were thinking about if we can imagine something we’ve never seen… I dont really know… but it made me think about how God certainly can! because he can make things out of nothing, and because the Bible says he wants to give us more than our minds can even imagine. So maybe we can too, but through his revelation in us, not by ourselves. Anyway, good post