I had to change the profile on this blog yesterday---eyes right! My son Jeremy and his wife Laura happily welcomed their first child. Now my wife and I have a half-dozen grandchildren. Stephanie, Kayla, Colin, Aidan, Holden, and fresh from the oven, Abigail. Three of each gender. Our love is boundless . So we have stores and stores for the new arrival . Adorable. Like all babies. "Every child comes with the message that God is not yet discouraged of man." So wrote Rabindranath Tagore. 7 pounds, 4 ounces of Divine encouragement.
Abigail is an Old Testament name. It means " her father's joy". She interceded for her husband--- who had been ungrateful to King David ---in order to save his life. She pleaded with the king to not "have on his conscience the staggering burden of needless bloodshed." She offered his royal highness food instead. When Abigail told her husband what she had done, he no longer had to fear that the king would have him killed. God did that instead. Abigail later became one of David's wives. Which may have been one of the earliest instances of the way to a man's heart is through his stomach.
In 1 Samuel 25:3 Abigail is described as having 'intelligence and beauty'. The Talmud says that she is one of the four women of surpassing beauty in this world. And one of only seven female prophets.
"Nobody can do for little children," Alex Haley wisely wrote, "what grandparents do. Grandparents sort of sprinkle stardust on the lives of little children."
Abigail, wait till you see the stardust Grandma and I have for you too.
Filed under: art, Family Life, Food
Tags: Alex Haley, King David, Rabindranath Tagore
What a wonderful tribute to Abigail!