Life Is Fragile...Handle With Care

It is a fact that bad things happen to good people all of the time.  Those things show up when one least expects them.  We do not understand them; all we have left is the vain attempt to figure out how to deal with them.  One of those things happened to a friend this week and as I heard about it, I could only think of one thing to do for them...PRAY.

Terrible things happen on very ordinary days, when our mundane schedules appear to be sluggishly going about as usual.  Our minds are occupied with the daily rut we are in; getting to work on time, getting the kids ready for school, thinking about what to make for dinner.  Tuesday was a day just like this for me.  It was Justin's 28th birthday.  I was planning a party for the family on Sunday afternoon.  It would also be the weekend of his 10th high school class reunion.  He was excited about attending it and getting together with old friends that he hadn't seen in a while.  Robby and I had set aside the weekend accordingly, to watch Parker so that they could enjoy themselves.  Things were going along as a Tuesday tends to...and then I received a phone call that reminded me that "Life altering events can occur at any time; even in the midst of a very ordinary day."

One of Justin's friends, who was to be in for the class reunion had some very unexpected, terrible news.  His wife was 36 weeks pregnant with their fourth child.  It was just an "ordinary" day for them; going to her doctor for an "ordinary" scheduled visit.  THAT is when everything STOPPED being "ordinary".  Upon examination, it was discovered that a heart beat from the unborn baby could not be detected.  In that instant everything change; nothing was "ordinary" any longer.

The mother was whisked off to surgery; the unborn child was not able to be saved.  When Justin called to tell me this news, my heart was greatly saddened.  He related to me the obvious..."I just don't know what to say to them.  I want to be there for them, but I just don't know what to say."  This was not the first time, I had known someone who had experienced something similar.  Oh, definitely not losing a child at 36 weeks, but I knew people who had miscarried, had still births and even lost a child to an automobile accident.  All of these losses are terrible; ones people cannot and do not understand.  For me, as a mother, I cannot imagine anything worse than the loss of a child.  How does one survive that sort of loss?  There is only one way and that was my reply to Justin's question of :"What can I do?"  PRAY for them.

We, as Christians experience the same sort of feelings during personal loss.  We are sad and angry and don't understand why these things happen to us.  The only difference for us is the fact that we have GOD and our FAITH to lean on to get us through these tough times.  For those who do not have this, I have no idea how they survive.  Things must appear hopeless.  For Christians, those same terrible feelings of hopelessness are somehow filled with HOPE during the darkness and tragedy of death.  We don't necessarily understand God's plans or why he has allowed us to be in this valley, but we TRUST HIM and lean of HIS understanding.  For one day, we know that we will not only meet HIM face to face, but  we will also be reunited with our lost loved ones.  Does this make the pain less?  No.  Do we cry?  Yes.  Do we feel the loss of missing our loved one?  Most certainly.

And so,  my pondering have taken me on an unsolicited journey this week.  To a place where I tend to avoid whenever possible.  It is easier to deal with tragedy when one is not personally close to it; you read about it in the paper, on the Internet and feel a jolt of sadness.  However, those feelings become much more amplified when we are more closely connected to the individuals involved.  We seem to feel their pain more acutely; our thoughts seem to find their way back to those individuals and rest on their feelings of desperation.  It is times like these that make us realize just how fragile life is and how petty we often are.  We are unappreciative of the simplicity of life, traveling in search of "things" to make us happy.  Tragedies like these, cause us to remember that this earthly life is temporary and we should cherish each day that God has given us and live it to the fullest with those we love...for tomorrow, everything could change in our world.  Don't let each day be an "ordinary" day, but an "extraordinary" day...simply because it exsists and you are here to enjoy it with the ones you love.

*****Please pray for this young couple that God will envelope them in HIS arms and provide them with the comfort that only HE can give.*****