It is difficult to believe that tomorrow, our Zozo will turn ONE. I must've blinked. It is amazing to me how we can experience such a vast range of emotions simultaneously. As I am feeling such pangs at how fast our babies are growing and overjoyed at watching them do so. Clearly the laws of matter do not apply to matters of the heart.
The past days...weeks...months...and years have been chalked full of seemingly one setback and disappointment after the next if we choose to look at it from that perspective. Only recently, however, did it occur to me...that the journey has been so extreme and extraordinary that we have no choice other than to KNOW beyond a shadow of a doubt that there is Divine Intervention taking place. God is ALL UP IN THIS and so what is there to do other than surrender all at his feet...to earneslty seek Him and His will. And bit by bit, the disappointment and fear turned into hope and excitement about the work being done in us and through us.
I recently blurted out to a friend that "Our pain is not our own." I didn't really know why I said it and couldn't really explain what I meant by it. As I turned it over in my mind, I guess what I was saying that the things we go through are not always about us...or they are much bigger than just us. Our pain is not so much about the pain itself as it is about our response to it and by our response, how it impacts those around us. I suppose that's what I was getting at. You can either be completely offended or totally liberated by the realization that "It's not about you."
Well, as I said...if we choose the one perspective, we can focus in on what appear to be setbacks...disappointments....failure. But flip that over and choose the other side of it and what endless possibility you will find. We can take joy and comfort in the fact that in suffering, we know that God trusts us...He believes in us and our ability to endure and to still be faithful. More simple than that...our daily bread...what more do we need? We are fed, we are clothed, we are healthy. The icing on that? we are surrounded by a plethora of friends and family who are always there to lend an ear or a helping hand or to say a prayer or to give a hug and if ever need be, a place to lay our heads. The cherry on top? Our hearts would burst some days at just hearing the laughter of our children or in watching them conquer some new feat, or hearing the new expressions of love and affections that they can now verbalize spontaneously and without prompting.
In counting the NUMEROUS joys and blessings to be found in EVERY SINGLE DAY we can declare, come what may..."If God be for us, who can be against us?" And if the things we strive for, seek and desire on this earth never come to pass, what will it matter as long as we have secured our place in eternity...
The past days...weeks...months...and years have been chalked full of seemingly one setback and disappointment after the next if we choose to look at it from that perspective. Only recently, however, did it occur to me...that the journey has been so extreme and extraordinary that we have no choice other than to KNOW beyond a shadow of a doubt that there is Divine Intervention taking place. God is ALL UP IN THIS and so what is there to do other than surrender all at his feet...to earneslty seek Him and His will. And bit by bit, the disappointment and fear turned into hope and excitement about the work being done in us and through us.
I recently blurted out to a friend that "Our pain is not our own." I didn't really know why I said it and couldn't really explain what I meant by it. As I turned it over in my mind, I guess what I was saying that the things we go through are not always about us...or they are much bigger than just us. Our pain is not so much about the pain itself as it is about our response to it and by our response, how it impacts those around us. I suppose that's what I was getting at. You can either be completely offended or totally liberated by the realization that "It's not about you."
Well, as I said...if we choose the one perspective, we can focus in on what appear to be setbacks...disappointments....failure. But flip that over and choose the other side of it and what endless possibility you will find. We can take joy and comfort in the fact that in suffering, we know that God trusts us...He believes in us and our ability to endure and to still be faithful. More simple than that...our daily bread...what more do we need? We are fed, we are clothed, we are healthy. The icing on that? we are surrounded by a plethora of friends and family who are always there to lend an ear or a helping hand or to say a prayer or to give a hug and if ever need be, a place to lay our heads. The cherry on top? Our hearts would burst some days at just hearing the laughter of our children or in watching them conquer some new feat, or hearing the new expressions of love and affections that they can now verbalize spontaneously and without prompting.
In counting the NUMEROUS joys and blessings to be found in EVERY SINGLE DAY we can declare, come what may..."If God be for us, who can be against us?" And if the things we strive for, seek and desire on this earth never come to pass, what will it matter as long as we have secured our place in eternity...
Life is so fragile...many of us have had the unfortunate experience of learning this all to well. Time is so short. If you look at everything we are striving for, hoping for, exhausting ourselves for, stressing ourselves over, worrying ourselves about...stop. Just stop. Because In the end (whenever that is) it will come down to two questions...How have we loved God? How have we loved each other? Everything else will fall away.
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