Ugly Baby

I had settled down for a four-hour flight on a large plane hoping to catch up on some reading. As the plane began to taxi down the runway, one of the flight attendants made her way down the aisle for her last check of the passengers. She suddenly noticed a lady with two babies, one without an adequate seat belt. The plane was gathering speed so she quickly took the smallest baby from the mother and looked around for one of the passengers to hold him during takeoff. The other passengers looked away, but I wasn’t quick enough! Catching my eye, the stewardess thanked me as she handed me the ugliest baby I had ever seen (excuse me for saying this). The baby was asleep, but did it ever make noise! I began to read through the baby noises and 15 minutes went by, 20 minutes went by, and then 30. I finally got up and went looking for the mother. Finding her five rows up, I asked, “Is this baby yours?” She looked up surprised and said, “Oh, I forgot all about him!” I have thought about this incident often. Yes, we may be small in the world’s eyes and so ugly our own mothers forget us, but God’s arms are always stretched out to hold us, and He will never drop or leave or ever forget us!

by Doug Nichols