Norman Vincent Peale was a twentieth century Methodist minister, author, media personality, and motivational speaker known for his positive outlook.  He is among those who are sometimes referred to as “Easter People.”  They spend their life improving their little speck of the world and bringing hope to those who seek it.  Among his stories is a “Parable of the Pre-natal Baby” that synchronizes well with Easter’s message.  In telling it, he reminds us that Jesus often spoke in parables not to explain things—like the unexplainable mysteries of life, death, and life after death—but to allow us to consider things in a new way and allow God to enlighten us through faith, intelligence, and common sense.  It goes like this:

Imagine a baby tucked under her mother’s loving heart.  She’s safe, she’s warm, she’s cared for, and she is happy with life as she knows it.  Then one day, someone or something somehow says to this unborn child, “Hey, you cannot stay here for long.  Soon you are going to die out of your present state or, as we like to say, ‘be born into a new way of life’.”  But the infant protests saying, “I don’t want to leave here.  I’m warm, I’m loved, I’m cared for.  I don’t want to die or what you call ‘be born out of this place’.”

But in the natural course of things—and it happens to us all—she is born.  She dies out of that old state.  And what does she find?  Well, she feels the strong, loving arms that hold her tight.  She looks up to see the beautiful, shining face of the parent who holds her with a love greater than anything she has ever known before, and the child exclaims: “How foolish I have been.  This is, indeed, a wonderful place to which I have come.  I want to remain here forever.”

We know some of what happens from there: the innocence of infancy, the delights of childhood, the foibles of youth, and life goes on…the excitement of romance, the strength of adulthood, the achievement of middle age, the wonderment of growing old, and life goes on.  And she knows that she is growing old.  Then one day, someone or something somehow says to this person: “Hey, you cannot stay here for long.  Soon you are going to die out of your present state or, as we like to say, ‘be born into a new way of life’.”  But the person protests saying, “I don’t want to leave here.  I’m warm, I’m loved, I’m cared for.  I love this world and the people who are important to me.  I love the sunrise and the sunset; I love the starlight and the moonglow.  I love the warmth of the sun upon my face in the summer; I love the crunch of the snow under my feet in the winter.  I don’t want to die or what you call ‘be born out of this place’.”

But in the natural course of things—and it happens to us all—she does die.  She dies out of that old state.  What should we suppose will happen then?  Would the Creator of all life suddenly change His nature, the unchanging nature of God?  Can we not assume that, once again, she will feel the strong, loving arms that hold her tight?  Won’t she look up again to see the beautiful shining face of the parent who holds her with a love far greater than anything she has ever known before?  Won’t this child of God once again exclaim: “How foolish I have been. This is, indeed, a wonderful place to which I have come.  I want to remain here forever.”

Peale’s parable is a powerful and beautiful Easter reminder that touches our faith, our intellect, our common sense, and our prayerful knowledge that God’s incredible mystery of life, death, and life thereafter includes us, too.  Let us be grateful for the magnificent privilege we are given in this life and for the promise of new life beyond.  Blessed Easter!