When Prince William married Kate
Middleton four years ago it was a storybook wedding. Two billion people watched. Since that time,
the Royal couple has charmed the nations with their world-wide tours. Now they have enchanted us with their
children, Prince George and his little sister, the Princess, Charlotte Elizabeth Diana. Keeping with British tradition, William and
Kate did not announce her name until Monday afternoon.
Part of our attraction to William, Kate
and their children is our fascination with celebrities. But, in this case, even
celebrities stand in awe, overshadowed by the traditions of royalty. We are moved by something deeper than
celebrity worship. The core attraction
of the royal family is just that: family.
In our scientific and antiseptic world
we are sometimes in danger of reducing human life to the mundane, the
clinically predictable. But the birth of
a Princess somehow draws us back to celebrate the majesty and the mystery of
birth and life: the natural result of a man and a woman committed to one
another in matrimony.
We are each born of a mother and a
father, which does not mean that we all know our fathers and mothers. Parents are not always married, and in some
cases, such as artificial insemination, they never even know one another. But, the fact of the matter is, we are all
conceived, fashioned and formed by the mystical union of male and female.
It has been so since the
beginning. Genesis states, “ God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created
him; male and female He created them. God
blessed them, and God said to them, ‘Be fruitful and multiply.’” (Genesis 1:27,28)
Sooner or later most of us want to know
our lineage. Where did we come
from? Who were our parents, and who were
their parents? What mysterious mix of ethnicities and nationalities went
together to produce … well … us?
None of us is elected or engineered to
be who we are. Britain’s new Princess is
who she is by birth and by choice. She is born a Princess because Prince
William chose Kate Middleton to be his bride. And she is born a Princess
because she is the daughter of their union.
In a similar way, we are all born
because God chose us and gave us birth.
In Isaiah, God says, “You who have been borne by Me from birth, and have
been carried from the womb; even to your old age, I will be the same, and even
to your graying years I shall bear you!
I have done it, and I shall carry you; and I shall bear you, and I shall
deliver you.” (Isaiah 46:3-4).
Peter writes, “But you are a chosen
race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God’s own possession.” (1
Peter 2:9). Jesus said, “You did not
choose me but I chose you.” (1 John
15:9).
On this coming Sunday, as we celebrate
Mothers’ Day, perhaps a newborn Princess will remind us who we are.
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