What My Newborn Taught Me About Finding Happiness

My wife and I welcomed our fourth baby into the world last week. Childbirth obviously isn't new to us. Yet I can't help but appreciate that moment more every time it happens. 

I have watched a child take his first breaths. Been there as he opened his eyes. Shown him to his first meal.

I don't know what kind of person he'll turn out to be, but I'm his guide. I was there to greet him at the gate, and now I walk beside him on his path of life.

How can I not be filled with wonder?

And just look at his little face!

Holding a newborn changes you.

Here's this tiny person, brand new to the world, light as a feather and ready to grow. Everything is new to him. He has the kind of fresh start the rest of us wish we could have: no failings, no debts, no cares other than when he'll get to eat.

He knows nothing--and yet is a master teacher.

Little Ezra stayed awake for hours after he was born. I followed his eyes as I held him--the way he fixated on my face, the way I imagined him looking around the room. 

Our hospital room overlooked a field with horses, a quiet neighborhood, and the highway I used to take to work. Behind it all stood Utah's Oquirrh Mountains, and as the sun lit those coppery hills on my baby's first afternoon, I held him facing the window and said, "Look at this new world of yours!"

We just need to not screw it up.
Image credit: Don LaVange on Flickr

Of course he couldn't see more than a few inches in front of him. But in that moment, when I presented the world to my newborn, I truly appreciated my little part of it. How many times had I driven down that road and taken no notice of the horses in the field? How many times had I missed the sun hitting those mountains?

When was the last time I really took in a room when I entered it?

When did I last notice cars on the road, trees in the yard, voices on the phone? When did I last notice my bed, my clothes, my kitchen sink?

When everything's new, everything's amazing. Since my baby was born, I've tried to see things through his eyes, and I've been so happy.

I've listened to music like it was my first time.

Stepped outside to get the mail and sniffed the autumn air like it was my first time.

Hugged my family like it was my first time.

Life is hard and the world can be cruel. I've got a list of challenges a mile long. But I've got even more to be thankful for.

Because life--boring, everyday, difficult life--is pretty dang fantastic when you really think about it.