A letter, since you're almost here

To my little love,

You’ll be here very (very!) soon. I’m simultaneously counting down the days until I get to see your face with wild anticipation, and also counting down the days I get to sleep in with a bit of trepidation. But mostly, I can’t wait for you to get here.

Here’s why: this morning is beautiful. The sun is out. It’s chilly but lovely—just like early March should be. Spring is on its way, but slowly. While I was talking to your Aunt Emma earlier, an Amazon delivery man dropped off a package on the back porch. Walter felt the need to protect the homestead and I could hear him barking from the other room. Apparently the delivery man heard him, too, because when I went out to get the package…there was a pile of dog treats sitting on top of it.

I’m not sure why it warmed my heart so much, but it did. In that moment I was filled to the brim with love for the Amazon delivery guy, the whole world, and everything in it. God felt very real and near as I bent down to pick up a little handful of Milk Bones and gave a couple to Walter.

Sweet little one, I am so excited to welcome you into this world. It’s not perfect. It is messy. Sometimes I shudder over the messiness. I don’t know what your growing up will be like—what battles you’ll face, what unrest or struggles or upheaval you’ll be a part of. Hopefully you won’t have to be part of another global pandemic, but who knows.

But I do know that this world was created to be good. The Creator of it all looked at His creation tenderly and said, “this is good”. And He meant it.

Sin has wrecked a lot of the goodness, it’s true. The world you’ll arrive in soon is not the world as it was intended to be. Individual sin and corporate sin have broken and continue to break a lot things. The poison of sin is laced through everything and the prince of darkness really does seem to be getting his way most of the time.

But on mornings like this one, I’m reminded that this fragile and breaking world is not beyond redemption. In fact, the moment the world broke, God put into motion His plan to fix it.

You’re coming into the middle of that plan, little one. When you arrive you’ll get to step into God’s beautiful story of redemption. Since the story is still in progress, you’ll have to experience the brokenness and pain of the world as it is. But my deepest prayer is that you’ll learn to see signs of God’s redemption story, and you’ll know there is cause for great, audacious hope.

I pray you’ll see hope in sunny days and the kindness of Amazon delivery people. I pray you’ll see it in the way food tastes and the way your community will love on you. I pray you’ll see it in the way Jesus enters into your darkest days and brings comfort.

Sometimes I worry about you in this big, scary world. I’m reminded daily how out of control we are, and how much I want to protect you from every hard and bad thing, and how much that is an impossibility.

But I also can’t wait for you to get here so you can see how wonderful it all is. There is goodness to be found, by the grace of God. And He and I both want you to experience it and revel in it and see Him in it, for your good and His glory.

Come on, little one! The Creator and Redeemer of the cosmos has made a beautiful, good world for you to play in, and I want to show it to you.