The baby fix

We are the recipients of much baby-related beneficence, even from people who are pretty far removed from us. People give us diapers, clothes, afghans and quilts, lotions and potions, and enough toys to stock Solomon's nursery. I think I've bought baby shampoo once, and only because we were traveling and I forgot to pack any. I've hardly ever had to buy infant clothes. A few times I've given boxes full of brand new baby gear to crisis pregnancy centers because we could never use it all. The Lord will provide, indeed.

People are kind and thoughtful and generous. But I wonder if there's a little more to it than that. So often someone dropping off a gift will tell me what a good time they had shopping for it, and talk about how long it's been since they were in that section of the store, and warn me that they grow up too fast. Am I being too CSPP in suspecting that this may be, in part, a small-family related phenomenon? The grandparent generation had two or three kids, who each have two or three kids. That makes for a pretty brief baby era in a family's history. Once the youngest grandchild gets too big for cuddlin', how does a grandma get her fix? She finds her local crazy pastor's family and spoils those babies.

Regardless of the reason: consider the babies of the parsonage, how they grow. They sure as eggs is eggs don't toil, although they do spin. Golly if they don't have everything they need; take therefore no thought for the morrow.