"What does that have to do with a picture of your soon to arrive baby's nursery," you may ask?
With the next month or so will come the start of many new things: the birth of our baby, parenthood, job changes, greater focus on our Wycliffe ministry. We are so excited by every single one of these events. They are life-changing and great privileges. Yet, this is a moment in life where we stop and weigh our present and future responsibilities. In doing that, the biggest realization is that to anticipate the coming of parenthood is to gaze upon a piercing and eternal specter.
The Pieces
Reading The Confessions of St. Augustine has been an unexpected encouragement to the coming task of parenthood. The world was very different at St. Augustine's birth in AD 354 than it is in AD 2018. Nonetheless, Christian family life and parenthood could include many of the same struggles it does today. Augustine sought truth outside of Christ for many years while his mother prayed desperately. He eventually did find real Truth and was used mightily for God's glory.My (Aimee's) great-grandmother was a woman who prayed over her family with deep conviction. I have thought a lot of her prayers since her passing in 2009. She taught me a lot about the power of faith and prayer. I believe her prayers continue to impact my life. She still encourages me to be more steadfast in prayer.
The Connection
St. Augustine's mother is an encouragement to us as soon-to-be parents and reminded us once again of the power of prayer we've seen through Aimee's great-grandmother. The real connection between St. Augustine and the crib? We are naming our little one after Aimee's great-grandmother. It's been a realization to put all these things together, a centuries old testimony of prayer, a family testimony of prayer, a name being passed down. The name does not hold any responsibility for Baby. We don't give it to her so she will have anything to live up to. It is, instead, a daily reminder to us of the history of God's faithfulness and nearness. We hope to pass this history on to Baby, praying and trusting God might use it as part of His plan to call her to Himself.
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"Your lovingkindness, O Lord, extends to the heavens, your faithfulness reaches to the skies." Psalm 36:5
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"And Thou sentest Thine hand from above, and drewest my soul out of that profound darkness, my mother, Thy faithful one, weeping to Thee for me.... For she, by that faith and spirit which she had from Thee, discerned the death wherein I lay, and Thou heardest her, O Lord; Thou heardest her, and despisedst not her tears, when streaming down, they watered the ground under her eyes in every place where she prayed; yea Thou heardest her.*"*Augustine, S., Bishop of Hippo. (1996). The Confessions of St. Augustine. (E. B. Pusey, Trans.). Oak Harbor, WA: Logos Research Systems, Inc.