Taking Miracles for Granted

Not too long ago, living-in-tokyo shared this video on her blog, which I've attached here for you too. It's a song/ mtv by country music singer Kellie Coffey called "I Would Die For That".

She warned that the video made her tear, and if I was expecting something that tugged at my heartstrings, I was in no way prepared for the mixed feelings that surged as I sat through that four and a half minutes. Melody, lyrics, visuals - they did what they set out to do.



Another reality check (not too long ago, it was from the article from the Motherhood magazine). Here I am, caught up in the daily drill of feeds, changes, baths, playtimes, and coping with changes to the little growing boy. Out there, so many individuals with their own stories; some in the exhilaration of expectation while others battle constant pains internally from the inability to. Perhaps, like I said previously, the ability to identify with both the joy and the pain stem from my privileged experience. I do not know.

Many years ago, a sister who had one child once shared with me that she prayed to God to allow for another sister in church to conceive before giving her a second child, for the latter had been unable to conceive for 10 years and both the physical and emotional exhaustion has taken the toll on this couple. She shared that "there are others who deserve a child more than she does". Though I would beg to differ on whether the blessing of a child is measured as such, I could not but be overwhelmed with the kind of generosity and love she showed, and how small I felt when I heard her heart's cry.

Now I have my own, and who is to say whether I'll be blessed with any more? But derod and I have set our hearts to bring up this one in as best a way as we know how, in knowing fearing and obeying the Lord, in independence, in contentment, in finding joy and happiness in the simple things, in doing what kids should do - be polite, innocent, disciplined, have the wind in their hair, sand between their toes...

It takes good friends to remind you not to take miracles for granted -- thanks, L-I-T ; )
And it takes a lifetime of constant reminders not to take the miracle that's been given to me for granted, and it is scary how you'll know if I've been, when you see gabe in a year's time, in ten years' time, in twenty years' time. God be with us.