Precious

This morning as I drove out of the garage with Mary in her car seat, headed for the bank and Michael's, I thought, Wow I have such a precious gift of life sitting in the back seat. I think that thought was precipitated from a short event earlier in the morning. I was back in our bedroom after Rich had left for work and making the bed. Mary wanted to get up on it as soon as I pulled the bedspread up and placed the pillows. She was still in her little fuzzy pink sleeper and had her soft pink blanket it her clutches. She laid on her tummy crosswise on the bed and I laid down still in my night gown across the bed beside her. She thought that was great. She put her little face right up to mine and I could feel her sweet little breath on my face. I rubbed my nose on hers and this brought a peel of giggles. She is such a sweet and happy little thing. She then lay down her head and said she was sweeping (sleeping) and closed her eyes and pretended to snore by making a little snorting sound. We lay there for a few minutes then I thought of the things I needed to do, so we got up and I lifted her down off the bed and went about my morning chores. After I drove down our driveway and thought of how precious she was in the back seat, my mind drifted to yesterday when I was reading a blog that I look at every once awhile. I don't read it regularly. It is written by a young mother who has 3 beautiful children and she tells the story of losing her 4 child shortly after birth. The child was a little girl with several severe birth defects and the doctors were amazed that she even lived in the womb. There are these beautiful pictures of her and her husband and 3 children with the little baby right after birth. Evidently they had a professional photographer there to chronicle the few short hours of this little ones life. I was so amazed at her strength as she told of this tragic event. As I was thinking about this on my drive to the bank this morning, I thought of how I would feel and I momentarily slipped myself into her shoes and this most overwhelming sorrow filled my soul until the tears streamed down my face. I couldn't help it. I thought wow, if that were me, I wouldn't even be able to take a normal picture. I know my eyes would have been swollen with tears and my groaning from my sorrow would be uncontrollable. Like I said, I admired this young Christian woman's strength. I gasped and yanked "her shoes" off my feet. I had to get rid of that pain. I finally shook it off by the time I got to the bank. I just remember the day that Mary was born. I was in so much pain but as soon as I seen her beautiful little face my heart jumped for joy! All the months of my worry at times and wondering what my little one would be like were over! I just thought how precious life is!