They Chose the Baby: What Faith Looked Like That Day

A Child's View of Courage

Hello fellow children.

I want you to imagine being a child waiting outside a house. Your aunt is inside having a baby. You're sitting on the ground with the other children, drawing lines in the dust with a stick.

The adults are all very serious. On edge. Your little street is normally loud and colorful. Today it is eerily quiet. No one is laughing.

The Women Who Help Babies Come Safely

Two women arrive. They carry cloths. They smell like water and herbs, and you know them. They help babies come safely. Everyone becomes very quiet.

You hear crying. Then a new sound — a baby.

One of the visiting women steps outside and smiles. She nods at your older sister. She says, "We arrived too late, didn't we?" And your sister nods. The women leave.

A Rule and a Baby

You don't know why, but the adults start breathing again.

Later, you hear whispers. You hear that the king made a rule. You don't know the rule. Only that those two women don't always follow it.

That night, your mother, holding your new baby brother, says, "Those women fear God."

And you don't know exactly what that means, but you know this:

When the rule and the baby were put together, they chose the baby.

This is what faith looked like that day.