As my granddaughter and I watched the nurse do all the things that nurses do to newborns I kept thinking that my grandson wasn’t even supposed to be here yet. A month early and only five pounds he was a kicking, screaming, tiny ball of indignation. He’d just been through the most critical journey he would ever make and he wasn’t happy with where he had wound up.
When we finally got our hands on him he seemed like nothing so much as a scrawny chicken with black hair and huge eyes. It seemed surreal that the knees and elbows we had so lovingly caressed by placing our hands on my daughter’s belly were right there in front of us waiting to be touched, kissed, and smelled. If you’ve been present at the birth of a baby you know exactly what I’m talking about when I say it was a humbling experience.
Here he was, our little Michael, brand new to the world and only five pounds. He seemed so vulnerable, and of course he was, but he also had everything he needed. This tiny little body was complete. Heart, lungs, brain, stomach; they were all there. In a five pound package! No need to go out and acquire anything; it was all there. I admit that my emotions were pretty raw but this realization seemed profound.
What if I applied this awareness to me? What if I accepted my own human perfection? If I knew beyond the shadow of a doubt that I was resourceful, intelligent, caring, brave, and competent what might I risk? The truth is that I am all of those things and so are you. Each of us has everything we need to pursue our dreams and to achieve our own level of greatness.
What might we accomplish if we each honestly acknowledged our own strengths and talents and used them to make our (individual and collective) dreams come true? As Marianne Williamson so brilliantly wrote, who are we not to be brilliant, talented, gorgeous, and fabulous? We are each a child of God. We have everything we need.
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