Words for welcoming a new baby

Look around this room for a moment. Look at the faces. Everybody here came because of one small person who wasn't here a little while ago and now is the center of everything. That's what a baby does. A baby rearranges a household, rearranges a schedule, rearranges a heart. And before we say anything else, we should say this: this child was given. Nobody in this room manufactured this life. Listen to what the psalm says: Behold, children are a heritage of Yahweh. The fruit of the womb is his reward. (Psalms 127:3) A heritage. An inheritance. Something handed down to you from someone else's hand. That matters, because it changes how you hold a child. If a baby is an achievement, you'll be tempted to be proud of him, or disappointed in him, or crushed by him. But if a baby is a gift from God, then you receive him with open hands and a thankful heart. And every time the pride swells or the fear rises, you go back to the Giver. So here's the first thing to do, and it's simple: say thank you out loud. Not just today with everyone dressed up. Tomorrow, at two in the morning, with your eyes half shut and a bottle in your hand, say it. "Lord, thank you. This one came from you." Now, the second thing. This gift is also a work. And the psalm is honest about how heavy that work can feel: It is vain for you to rise up early, to stay up late, eating the bread of toil; for he gives sleep to his loved ones. (Psalms 127:2) There's a kind of parenting that is nothing but anxious effort. Up early, up late, worried sick, gripping the wheel with both hands, trying to guarantee an outcome you were never given the power to guarantee. The psalm doesn't say don't work. It says don't work alone. Unless Yahweh builds the house, they labor in vain who build it. (Psalms 127:1) You are building a house here. Not the walls, the household. The character in it. The love in it. And you cannot build that by willpower. You need God in the middle of it. Which means prayer is not the extra thing you do for your child after the practical things. It is the practical thing. Pray over that crib. Pray on the drive. Pray when you don't know what to do, and you will not know what to do, often. That's not failure. That's the design. God gave you a child partly so you'd learn to depend on Him. And here's the third thing, and it's the biggest. The psalm calls children As arrows in the hand of a mighty man (Psalms 127:4). Arrows are not decorations. Arrows are aimed. Arrows are released. This child is not here to stay small in your arms. This child is here to go somewhere, to stand somewhere, to matter in a world that needs people who know God. So raise him with eternity in view. Which means the most important thing you will ever hand this child is not a good education or a safe childhood, as good as those things are. It's Jesus. Tell him early and often that God loves him, that Christ died for sinners, that grace is real and free. Let him see it in how you forgive each other in this house. A child learns what God is like mostly by watching how the people who love him behave when they're tired. Family, hear the blessing over this little one. May the Lord build this house. May He watch over it. May this child know from his earliest days that he is loved by God, wanted by God, called by God. May he grow up to be an arrow that flies straight and true. And to the parents: you will not do this perfectly. You don't have to. The One who gave the gift is the One who builds the house. Let's pray. Father, we thank you for this child, a gift from your hand. Build this house. Watch over it. Give these parents rest and wisdom and joy. And in your kindness, draw this little one to yourself, early and forever. In Jesus' name, amen.