Thesus' Poetic Perspective

The poet's eye, in a fine frenzy rolling,
Doth glance from heaven to earth, from earth to heaven;
And as imagination bodies forth
The form of things unknown, the poet's pen
Turns them into shapes, and gives to airy nothing
A local habitation and a name

-William Shakespeare, A Midsummer Night's Dream

Nothingness

"The temptation of Nothingness is enormous and omnipresent, and it has more and more to rest its case on, more to appeal to. Against it, man stands alone, weak and poorly armed, his position worse than ever before in history... The tragedy of modern man is not that he knows less and less about the meaning of his own life, but that it bothers him less and less..."

-Vaclav Havel

My first prayer for him

Little baby boy,
be at rest, peace, and comfort.
rest your body against mine, feel the safety of home.
breath deep and make a joyful noise, loud enough to shake the city's streets

Dearest child,
play with curiosity and wonder
let beauty of mountains and towers spark the riches of your imagination
discover the rights and wrongs that make our world shimmer in light and shudder at night.

Young man,
work with purpose, hope, and love
consider the pain and questions of your time,
imagine the best image of yourself, in the fuzzy reflections of God upon the waters

My son,
you will be our most precious work of beauty and art
you will be our resistance against chaos and death
you will be our blessing of life for generations, a renewing flame to melt away the ice

My Resistance...

"For to us a child is born, to us a son is given..." - Isaiah 9:6a

My wife and I are expecting our firstborn child, a son, in early March. We just bought ourselves a crib and stroller earlier today. As the house fills up with baby things, new feelings fear and excitement abounds.

This week's study of Isaiah has put a new praise in my heart. If, in fact, Isaiah literally beheld a young pregnant woman as a sign to the King that "God is with us," then it was the everyday being revealed as holy and full of hope, even in the darkest times. It would seem the king refused to take in the beauty of the sign. After all, are not women bearing children all the time? (Perhaps only a virgin birth is worth the praise of the world, a supernatural miracle).

No... every child is a miracle.

In another class, there was a discussion about whether it was worth having children in such an age of pain, chaos, and war. In the end, another classmate declared that, by having children, we declare hope for the future. We believe that our child will be part of a world worth living in.

Why have children?

To birth, raise, and send off a child into this world is humanity and nature's greatest shared form of resistance against the ever growing chaos of our expanding civilization. Children, cared for and empowered, are the loudest statement of faith and hope that can possibly be expressed by love incarnate.

I understand, Isaiah, I understand perfectly well what you mean. You showed the King the greatest image of hope one could hope to have. God is with us so long as we continue our hope in life.

In a month, I will have a son, and he shall be my resistance against the chaos.

A few verses later, the new crown prince of Judah is blessed with a hymn of thanksgiving, one meant for a king. Exactly how much time took place between the sign and this hymn, I wonder. In any case, the child prince was infused with the hope of the nation.

If only we would care for each of our children with the same hope and expectation. Perhaps they shall not be Jesus Christ, savior of all, but we are all called to be "little Christs" after all, reflecting his image.

From this day forward, the reading of Isaiah 9 shall not only be read a praise for Jesus, but a hopeful prayer for my son as well.