The Oak Life Journal
Mar | Apr 2024
By Cameron Talbot
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2 minute read
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In the first moments of my eldest daughter being born, the doctor insisted I be the one to cut the umbilical cord. Before I did, he stopped my wife and me and purposefully instructed, “This is an important moment. Speak something over her first.”
As I stared at the most important, wonderful and fragile gift we had ever been given, I was struck by a sense of absolute insufficiency.
“What could I possibly offer you?”
“What words could I speak that, echoing throughout your life, might lay a foundation for peace, joy and wholeness?”
“In my brokenness, darling girl, what could I possibly say that would enshrine your preciousness forever, protect you on the journey, and carry you into your final days, wizened and content?”
I knew then—it could never come from me.
“Lyanna Raine Talbot, we welcome you, that you might know your Heavenly Father intimately, and be known by Him.”
And as my wife and I cried and held onto our small gift tightly, we learned the very first lesson of parenthood—the most important lesson—that although we would nurture and correct Lyanna, teach her language, emotion and relationships, cry with her, laugh with her, swing her around and hold her close, these lessons are merely types and shadows. In all things, our job from day one was clear—that we point her towards her Heavenly Father, the only One who can truly and perfectly love her whole being.
And so is the role of every caregiver, in word and deed.
We teach them to obey His commands, that they would have long life. We teach them to read His Word, that they would gain wisdom. And we teach them to hear His voice, that they would know they are loved every day of their lives.
If we do nothing else, let this one thing carry our children’s homes forward—that our children would know their Heavenly Father intimately, and be known by Him.
Cameron Talbot
Chief Editor
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Cameron Talbot
Founder of Oak Life, he has been working alongside children's homes since 2015. His passion is to learn and share the tools to help heal children of abandonment. Sustainable alternative care. TBRI® Practitioner. Proud husband and father.
Cameron Talbot
Founder of Oak Life, he has been working alongside children's homes since 2015. His passion is to learn and share the tools to help heal children of abandonment. Sustainable alternative care. TBRI® Practitioner. Proud husband and father.
