Flesh and Blood
She reaches down and caresses his little face, his body, his feet, she holds his fingers. Deep inside him his spirit stirs. His flesh and blood recognize his own. She is his own and she belongs to him. His spirit smiles in recognition, it won't be long now and then he can take his first walk.
The humans around his cot anxiously check monitors and tubes and catheters and beeps. They are trying their absolute best. As they work prayers are muttered under their breaths. This little guy has really has got under their skin, they want more than anything for him to live and to know joy and freedom. There's something special about him. His great grandmother agrees but knows that for these prayers to be answered a different outcome will need to happen.
As a nurse starts to get overwrought in her feelings the woman walks beside her and gently places her hand on the nurse's shoulder. The nurse takes in a deep breath, wipes a tear and whispers 'Amen'. She has the strength to move on to the next naby who needs her care. She thinks to herself again, 'There is something special about that baby.'
The hours come and go and the woman maintains her vigil. Time is different to her and she has all the time in the world. She never leaves his bedside. The memories of her children and grandchildren come flooding back as she tends to the baby's soul. She can see each baby so clearly, remembers how they felt, the noises they made when they fed, the little fingers wrapping around her finger, the way each baby smelt, the deep deep love she has for each of them. She remembers how her humanness precluded her from the full experience of parenthood. How her own experiences of shame, depression, sadness, deep grief turned her into someone she was not meant to be. But it was with her babies that she fully knew herself. It is with this little baby boy that she fully knows herself.
As the time edges on in the interminable hours that make up a hospital clock more flesh and blood from Heaven arrive. They draw closely to the side of the cot. And in each of them the woman recognizes a mirror of the baby boy. In them the full picture of him is made. The smile of a great grandfather, the kindness of a great grandmother, the humor of him, the grace of her. They belong to him as the weaving process of his creation involved the stands of all their DNA. They nestle around their baby. They sing to him, they cup his little head, they lay a blanket of love over him. And he knows they are there and his tender little boy heart snuggles in. There is nothing more powerful and warm than the love of a grand parent. He is completely safe in their care.
The baby's human people arrive. The woman's daughter and grand daughter enter. Her heart swells with indescribable love. These are her babies. She knows they would not recognize her if they saw her. Her transformation is too immense and heavenly for humans to fully comprehend. It is only once they make their own journeys into the Kingdom that they will become like her, fully redeemed and fully themselves.
She knows they have come to say goodbye. Her heart breaks for them because she knows grief. The humanness of it, the sheer depth of pain, the separation of flesh from flesh. The agony. The unrelenting missing. The ache.
As they hold their baby boy and whisper their prayers, as the tears flow those who have gone before gather around their human children. They hold their children and consol them. They join in the prayers to the Heavenly Father, they are all children in His Kingdom. In death and in life they are united because nothing can separate us from His love.
As the final farewell is muttered the woman finds herself holding the baby boy. His spirit is smiling and content and beautiful. This little thing will go straight into the arms of Jesus. Jesus had a serious soft spot for children when He was human, he still does.
The great grandparents sweep around the boy. Love radiates onto him as he looks into the gentle eyes of his people. He is safe and in a new way, he is home. And he will never know grief or sadness or suffering. His is a different destiny.
He makes his way into the new world. His grandparents show him birds and plants and animals and mountains and rivers and oceans and adventures and childhood. In this world he will know it all, fully and wholeheartedly. They whisper funny stories to him about his parents and they kiss his neck and they breathe him in. In this world the prayers are answered - he will live and know joy and freedom.
The grandparents look to each other with excitement. Their mission will be to show this boy Heaven in all its glory and one day he will show it to his parents. They tickle him and he laughs, the laughter of a child who has never known sadness. That is what the music in heaven sounds like. They smile knowingly at each other, there is something special about this boy.
So beautiful.
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