Last week challenged my perspective.
It was our first week of school. I had three “dialogues” going all week with close mom friends and one personal situation that was heavy on my heart.
First, I have a friend that’s struggling with the fact that her children will be in public school for the first time. Life has thrown them a curve ball and this is just where it’s landed them. Good schools. Good kids. Good family. Just hard to swallow!
Secondly, I have a friend who is struggling with her youngest child. He’s 7 and at our Christian school for the first year. He’s angry. He wanted to stay at his “old” school. He doesn’t like his teacher. He’s tried to escape…literally! My 2nd grader witnessed it and was quite horrified by the experience, to be honest!
My other friend had health issues in her family last week. Her youngest is three and has pretty severe asthma. I was out the door, frantically, at 6:40am last Wednesday and arrived at her house just after the ambulance and fire truck arrived. Her two older boys are great friends with our boys, so I scurried them out the door and brought them to our house.
Our story ends up with a happy conclusion, but on Wednesday I wasn’t so sure of it. I took our 9 month old for his well visit. They put him on the scale and we discover he has lost weight! This is not a good thing! He’s lost 10 ounces since May. Not only has he LOST weight, but I realize that means he hasn’t GAINED weight, either! I tried to remain calm. I’m a nursing mom and this third child has been my only success story. So, maybe I missed the signs that he wasn’t thriving? I just thought he was tiny. The doctor ordered extra lab worked, scheduled a weight check in 14 days and said he’d call my by Friday with the results. Turned out that all is well. Slightly low iron level is the only concern and is completely treatable.
In the span from Wednesday to Friday, though, I was quite shaken. What if something IS wrong? What if we DO get bad news? What if this is our moment for pain and disappointment? I had to challenge my heart to trust God many times.
All of these stories are normally challenging events. Then I read this headline on my Yahoo home page…
“Families’ Tough Decision During Famine – Parents fleeing Kenya’s devastation are often forced to abandon sick or dying children.”
Suddenly, all of these events don’t quite seem so “pressing” anymore. Can you imagine even having to have to ponder the decision to abandon your child? Seems like that would never cross one’s mind. Yet, life circumstances for these people have brought them to this very crossroad.
I couldn’t help but hurt for them. Pray for them. Beg God to supply their needs. But then a very humbling thought came to mind. Why haven’t I been faced with that decision? Why is my family so healthy and blessed? Quite frankly, why are we so spoiled?
The answer? God’s mercy and grace have been poured out on me in a way that I can’t fathom, nor do I deserve. I don’t anticipate a famine in my lifetime or lie awake at night wondering if God will provide mere crumbs for my family for the next day. For this I am grateful. My fellow moms in Kenya can’t say the same. I am humbled.
