Holding my grandchildren's hands while walking around the grand architecture of Oxford was a delight to my heart.

I was unprepared, untrained, and honestly, had not given motherhood a lot of thought in my single years. At almost 31, never having changed a diaper, never knowing a mom who had nursed her children, and not even knowing how to hold a baby, I was heading into a great unknown — this thing called motherhood!

And yet, when my first baby was born, it was not the overwhelming sense of responsibility or inadequacy that hit first, but the incredible wave of unconditional love. I was not expecting the pure awe that would flood my heart the moment she arrived and was gently placed into my arms.

As I was holding her, it was as if God was whispering to me: "You are holding eternity in your arms. This little one is a miracle, a gift from Me. Will you love her so that when she grows up, she will believe that I love her? Will you whisper to her the secrets of My ways, give her a sanctuary in which to celebrate all that is good in life so that she will fill the treasure chest of her soul with all that is good, true, and beautiful?"

Read more about this in my new book, Well Lived.