Iris was five days old when I held her – a healthy 8lbs plus baby girl. As you can see from the photograph, she’s beautiful. But she is more than beautiful, she is also blessed. Born to a loving couple she will be so well cared for within her immediate home environment. Living as she does in the midst of some of the most amazing countryside in Wales, her young life will be full of fascinating sights and sounds with Snowdonia National Park as her playground. She will want for nothing good – even if sacrifices need to be made.

But for Iris it gets better, for many of her extended family are close by to give her parents all the support they need. When broken sleep means nerves are frayed, that family support will be so welcome. Sensing security, Iris will be as happy with that extended family as she will be at home. Blessed indeed.

And better still it gets, for Iris is born to a close Christian community. Belonging to a vibrant church means that she will have many families to befriend her and to instil some great values as she grows. From the start she will learn the story that frames our being and makes some sense of our broken world, a story in which the other is loved as much as her own.

Blessed is she. And so was I as I held her on her fifth day in this world. Happy knowing of the joy she has brought her parents; happy knowing of the sacrificial love that will envelop her. And yet a tinge of sadness touched me also, knowing that we too could have offered the same and came so close to doing so.