POINTS TO PONDER

The Chinese have traditionally counted a baby as one year old when he or she is born, and they have a point. The baby has already been alive before birth, and what has changed is merely the baby’s environment. Thanks to pioneering medical imaging technology, such as 4D ultrasound, we can watch a fetus as it sucks its thumb, blinks, yawns, smiles, and moves inside the womb, leaving no question that it is a unique living soul before birth.—Abi F. May

Advanced scanning means we have a window on the secret life of fetuses. At 11 weeks we can see them yawn and even take steps. At 22 weeks, they begin to open their eyes. Between 20 and 24 weeks we watch as they seem to cry, smile, and frown. … When I see a fetus that can smile at me, I know absolutely that we should not tear it from the womb.—Stuart Campbell

Imagine yourself as the world’s tallest skyscraper, built in nine months and germinating from a single brick. As that brick divides, it gives rise to every other type of material needed to construct and operate the finished tower—a million tons of steel, concrete, mortar, insulation, tile, wood, granite, solvents, carpet, cable, pipe, and glass, as well as all furniture, phone systems, heating and cooling units, plumbing, electrical wiring, artwork, and computer networks, including software. —Alexander Tsiaras and Barry Werth, From Conception to Birth: A Life Unfolds

The spark of life is a miracle of God, not some kind of physical accident. At conception, God combines a new human body with a new human spirit to create a new immortal soul with a distinct personality, different from anybody else in the whole world.—David Brandt Berg (1919–1994)

Science has its explanations for how children come into being, but when you first hold your baby and look into those little eyes, you know that you are holding a miracle. You are looking at one of the great mysteries of the universe—a glimpse of Heaven and the creative power of God. There in your arms is tangible proof of the love God has for you, for He has chosen you to parent a new soul.—Derek and Michelle Brookes, Keys to Baby

Our birth is but a sleep and a forgetting;

The soul that rises with us, our life’s star,

Hath had elsewhere its setting,

And cometh from afar:

Not in entire forgetfulness,

And not in utter nakedness,

But trailing clouds of glory do we come

From God, who is our home.

— William Wordsworth (1770–1850)