A Baby

      A baby is born. He must be nourished and cleaned and loved. He must feel safe and protected. He must have guidance and teaching, but most of all he must have love. His spirit must have wings to fly and his feet must touch the ground to know the earth. He must have vision to expand his sight and ears to hear wisdom and heart to experience and know that wisdom. His mind must be free to explore, to consider, to evaluate, to learn, to know. When he falls, he must be picked up until he can develop the strength to pick himself up. He must be encouraged to risk, to take steps forward, to look to that which is new and that which is old. He must learn to share, to take joy in being, to hear the birds sing and to see them fly skyward as a symbol of the spirit. He must develop character and realize that it is not handed out like a present, but developed from within. He must develop patience and kindness and an awareness of others, their joy and their pain. He must develop health for the spirit likes a strong body. He must know the paths of both sorrow and joy as paths of life. Above all he must know love - giving, receiving, spreading it out like rays of light, sharing it in creative ways sometimes boldly, sometimes quietly. He must learn the strength of love as well as its vulnerability. He must live life with love... and so should we all.