One of Bruce Cockburn’s More Chestertonian Songs

The goodness of the fairy tale was not affected by the fact that there might be more dragons than princesses; it was good to be in a fairy tale. The test of all happiness is gratitude; and I felt grateful, though I hardly knew to whom. Children are grateful when Santa Claus puts in their stockings gifts of toys or sweets. Could I not be grateful to Santa Claus when he put in my stockings the gift of two miraculous legs? We thank people for birthday presents of cigars and slippers. Can I thank no one for the birthday present of birth?

“Here we are just the same.”  Lots of people grapple with the question of why we die.  But the deeper question is why we ever got to be alive  in the first place–and who to thank for that astonishing gift. The Christian faith gives the only deeply satisfying answer to that question.