Surprise! It’s a…giraffe!

It was the grayest and dreariest of Mondays. And although it seems as if Easter should have come by now, Lent is still going strong. We haven’t even reached the robust holiness of Holy Week.

Then, in the midst of the gray drizzly Monday, a news story popped into the world: a new baby giraffe had been born at the Maryland Zoo! She was a complete surprise to the Maryland Zoo. She seemed to be healthy and strong—all almost 6 feet of her. She made her unexpected entry into the world on March 27, and all reports are that she’s doing just fine.

A baby giraffe. A new little—well, not so little—life in the world. It was just the spark of joy this gray April day needed.

And somehow the fact that she was completely unexpected made her arrival even more marvelous. What a lovely surprise, a beautiful gift to the world.

I can’t remember the last time that I read a news story with such pleasure. I sent it along to a few friends I knew would appreciate it, too.

Giraffes on their own seem miraculous—how they move with grace and strength, walking slowly or speeding across the terrain. Their elegantly endless necks. Their spots so artfully placed, in a way only God could have thought of, with his infinite creativity and sense of humor. What mere mortal could ever have imagined a giraffe?

The arrival of this newborn giraffe, in this unexpected way, seems like a miracle of miracles. In today’s world of scientific knowledge and uber-information, it’s hard to imagine that no one knew—except God and perhaps the expectant mother giraffe. Yet here we are. And here’s the baby giraffe, the newborn no one was prepared to welcome, and yet who is settling in with her mother just fine.

What a magnificent gift this little giraffe is—to her mother, to the Zoo, to Baltimore, and to all of us. This bundle of joy is sheer delight and proof there is always room for one more, even when that one is a 6-foot-tall giraffe that enters the scene without any warning.

It’s not every day that a baby giraffe arrives in our lives. But every day offers us the opportunity to recognize a wonderful and unexpected gift God gives to our world—whether large or small.

“Oh Lord, my God, when I in awesome wonder
Consider all the worlds Thy hands have made
I see the stars, I hear the rolling thunder
Thy power throughout the universe displayed.”

Welcome to the world, baby giraffe. Thank you, God, for this unexpected surprise. Bless this newborn giraffe and all who will encounter her, marveling at the magnificence of this little one you’ve created.

Photos courtesy of the Maryland Zoo.

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