Sometimes the simplest accomplishments in life are the most fulfilling. After going
through hard times we take more pleasure in doing common things. The joy of
accomplishment is sweetest when it has taken an uncommon struggle to attain it.
The awesome mystery of a tiny, helpless baby growing into a child is a
beautiful and wonderful thing to behold. Especially when the baby had a hard
beginning and there was serious doubt that he would make it at all.
Donald, the son of Favour in Ghana, had a very hard first year of life. He was
kept in an incubator for a week after birth and he struggled with respiratory
problems for a long time afterward. When he was five weeks old a fire destroyed the
neighborhood where he was living with his mother and he was only saved from burning
to death by the quick actions of a neighbor who rescued him. At one time he fell
and was badly bruised. At another he was scalded and screaming with pain from the
ugly, raw burns on his scalp. He has had malaria. And many times he has gone hungry
because his mother couldn't nurse and there was simply no money to buy food for
him. But he survived and even thrived. Donald has grown into a big boy, solid and
strong.
The good news today is that Donald is starting to walk. Unsteady and uneven so
far, and he totters and pitches back and forth, but he is walking. Yes, every child
learns to walk and it's nothing remarkable, but it is always a moment of joy for
those who love them. And for a baby we honestly did not think was going to survive
it is especially sweet.
Donald has a long ways to go and he will have to face many more dangers and
challenges. But for now he is alive and is crossing a major threshold in life. Our
little baby is growing up.
