A Blessed Moment

Children are a gift from the Lord; they are a reward from him. . . . How happy is the man whose quiver is full of them! Psalm 127:3-5

Twenty-four hours of labor and still no baby. The last six hours were the scariest because of what the doctors called fetal distress. I couldn’t help but wonder if the baby was going to be all right. I watched my wife agonize through each contraction. At the same time, I watched my unborn son’s heart beat at half its normal rate.

I was already nervous enough about being a dad because I had no previous experience with kids. I was still in school and made no money to speak of. On top of that, I had grown up in a dysfunctional home and didn’t know how I was going to raise a family of my own. I knew there was no turning back, but how was I supposed to go forward?

After we were ushered into the operating room for an emergency cesarean section, the first thing I saw was my wife, sedated and lying on her back, her arms strapped down as if she had been tied to a cross. When the doctors pulled my son out, he was very blue from lack of oxygen. It only took a few seconds to get him breathing, but it seemed like hours.

When they placed my son in my arms, something inside me changed. Any hesitation I had about being a father evaporated as my heart melted in love for my boy. It didn’t matter anymore what it would cost to raise him. It didn’t matter how much of my life I might have to sacrifice. It didn’t matter that I still had no idea what it would take to be the head of a healthy family. I was a dad now.

Lord, thank you for blessing me with children. And thank you for giving me the strength to be a dad.