Threatened By a Baby

My sister always dreamed of having a pet tiger. She is a cat person and so the thought of having a tiger as a pet was always intriguing for her. I figured that was a pretty cool idea but didn't think it was very feasible. Come to find out, there are a bunch of stories out there of people who adopted a tiger as a baby, nursed it, trained it, and now have a house pet that is capable of ripping their head off without much effort.

If you came across a full grown tiger on the Savana you would likely find that to be worrisome. After all, the Savana is the Tiger's natural habitat; you are on his turf and you look a lot like lunch. You know it, and he knows it. And your chances of survival are somewhere between slim and none.

But if you came across a tiger cub you would likely not feel threatened at all. At worst this little tiger cub is going to gnaw on your leg or claw your shin but it would just be irritating and wouldn't even draw blood.

This leads me to conclude that the reason we think babies are cute is because they do not pose a threat to us (baby tigers as well as baby humans). Yes, they are small and that is fun, but I think the real reason we think babies are cute is that they pose no threat to our well being.

Think about it: adults can hurt you with words, actions, gestures, emails, etc. Adults pose a potential threat to us. Babies are incapable of posing a threat (unless you count crying as a threat) and therefore we perceive their cuteness as really glorified "non-threatyness."

Which leads me to an interesting spin. Jesus came into the world as God incarnate in the form of a helpless little baby. A baby that had no threat to the world whatsoever. Or so you might think. Satan saw this particular little baby as the greatest potential threat he could have possibly seen. Baby Jesus was indeed the most threatening baby that Satan had ever laid eyes upon, and he trembled.

How cool is it that God chose to manifest Himself in the most "cute" form He could create: a baby. The least threatening, most loveable form of humanity.

So with all this talk of babies, Katie and I are pleased to announce that we are expecting our 4th child this fall! God is good and continues to bless us with children.

Behold, children are a gift of the Lord,

The fruit of the womb is a reward.

4 

Like arrows in the hand of a warrior,

So are the children of one’s youth.

5 

How blessed is the man whose quiver is full of them;

They will not be ashamed

When they speak with their enemies in the gate.

-Psalm 127: 3-5