Other Babies

By G. E. Shuman

I love babies. I really do. Yes, I tease my wife, among others, that newborn babies “look like lizards,” and about their crying, and their pooping, and all of that. But I really do love babies. As the father of five, and the grandfather of ten, how could I not? My wife, of course, adores ‘our’ babies too. “There is no greater sign of innocence and purity on earth, than the dimples on a baby’s hand.” No famous person penned that quote. I am quoting myself there.
Although my wife likely thinks I get along with young kids well because I’m basically on their level, I hope I got these feelings from my dad. My mother is the most nurturing, nearly OVER-nurturing person I have ever met… but Dad was a baby-lover in an almost higher way, if that is possible. I think he not only loved babies, but that he loved the purity, the fragility, the beauty and overwhelming helplessness of babies and children, with some level of insight that I will not be able to describe here. I have seen his eyes well up with tears, just in the viewing of a photograph of some child whom he thought might be in need. I have heard his voice crack, in merely mentioning some ‘profundity’ once softly spoken by one of his (unmatchable) grandchildren. I have seen his face, even while in the ravages of Alzheimer’s disease, smile and simply light up, at the sight of my then-toddler, youngest daughter, as she played on the floor in front of him.
I have always been in great awe of our universe. As a Christian, I see it, even when viewed through the mind-boggling eye of the Hubble space telescope, as more than space, and dust and gas. I see our universe as the totality of creation. I see it as something of great purpose, and nearly infinite intricacy. I understand the galaxies to be not only products of intelligent design, but the products of immense, unmatched, omniscient design. To me, to think otherwise; to imagine that all that is, exists only by chance, is simply impossible.
In case you haven’t guessed, I believe in God. I strive to trust God. I also believe that He loves babies, too, a lot more than I do. After all, He made them. He loves human babies, and, perhaps to a lesser degree, animal babies. He made them too.
In the 1990’s Jodie Foster movie ‘Contact,’ the man who played Jodie’s dad, in scenes when her character was a young girl, loved space, and telescopes, and short wave radio. In those things he reminded me of me, a little. He reminded me of me a lot when he actually said a line in the movie which is one I had been saying for many years. The young actress playing Jodie’s part had asked her dad if he thought that there were people on other planets. His reply was: “If not, it seems like an awful waste of space.”
So, is there life ‘out there’, or not? This question may not be answered in my lifetime, as it was not answered in my Dad’s. To me, it is interesting that we have eyes to see the stars, and minds great enough to wonder about such things. I think this might mean that we are meant to do so. And then, there are the very words of Jesus, in the Bible. In John 10, verse 16, he tells his disciples: “And other sheep I have, which are not of this fold: them also I must bring,” Perhaps he was talking about his followers in other countries, or even on other continents. Or, perhaps he was talking about his followers on the many other worlds in his creation. Also, to my mind, “other sheep”, must certainly have ‘other babies.’ How cool is that?
The stars that we see at night are not simply points of brilliance in the cold darkness of space. They are billions of suns, shining down on their own orbiting planets. Perhaps, at this very moment, some of those suns are warming the smiling faces of other-worldly, but still beautiful, other babies. If you think of this the next time you look to the heavens on a clear night, you might view the stars a bit differently. Dad would like that.