I took my last vacation day of the year today and it was wonderful to have a long weekend. Saturday and Sunday were filled with visiting family and friends and decorating the house. Today we planned on finishing up some errands for Christmas.
Himself suggested that before we hit the stores we stop in at church for adoration. It was a good, no, great, idea. If you know me, sitting still and quiet is not something I am particularly good at. Never have been, probably never will be.
Given the horrific events of Friday morning in Connecticut, it was much needed to just be and sit in the presence of our Lord.
While I prayed for you and your future children, another thought came to me. Perhaps in His plan, IF has been a gift God has given some of us. We will never know the heartbreak of losing a child in such a unimaginable manner. We won’t wonder just how terrified they were at that moment.
What if we are not capable of enduring such devastating pain?
What if the denial of something we want so much, children to call our own, is actually a gift?
I've often thought of IF as a gift...for there is a lot of pain we won't endure because we don't have children...not only last Friday incident but when the children get older and go down a path you know is wrong but you have to let your child make his/her mistakes. Or the pain of sitting in a nursing home and not one of your children come to visit. Having children is a gift but I'm sure it brings it's share of heartache too. Children are a lot of work and there's lots to be worried about. I've come to realize on this journey...not having children is not the end of the world.
ReplyDeleteI have often had this thought. That maybe He's protecting me from something. Who knows what...but, something even more painful than not having more children. And, there are those things...Thanks for the reminder.
ReplyDeleteThis is why the song "Blessings" has been such a blessing to me - it is this exact sentiment, that sometimes our blessings, while seemingly painful, are really God's way of protecting us.
ReplyDeleteFriday just happened to be a real-life reminder of this very thing.
A great number of the people followed him,
ReplyDeleteand among them were women who were
beating their breasts and wailing for him.
But Jesus turned to them and said,
“Daughters of Jerusalem, do not weep for me,
but weep for yourselves and for your children.
For the days are surely coming when they
will say, ‘Blessed are the barren, and
the wombs that never bore, and the
breasts that never nursed.’ Then they
will begin to say to the mountains,
‘Fall on us’; and to the hills, ‘Cover us.’
For if they do this when the wood is green,
what will happen when it is dry?”
I had not thought of it this way. I cannot imagine losing a child, especially in that way.
ReplyDeleteHimself ... I really love the Biblical reference!
"What if we are not capable of enduring such devastating pain?"
ReplyDeleteWe find a way. Trust me.