This morning, I woke my baby up from a sound sleep (poor guy didn't know what was going on!) to feed him as much as I could before 6:30am. Once he woke up completely, he seemed to really enjoy the quiet time with a mom totally undistracted by other siblings. While I don't intend to make a habit of this, my breakfast date with Little Boy was really special.
It was also bittersweet. As I tiptoed through the house with Little Boy in my arms, I was reminded of the many dark, quiet mornings when we've risen early with Elli. We have to prepare early breakfasts those days when the kids are receiving anesthesia -- they have to fast for a certain number of hours before they receiving that medicine. My next thought was of the two heart surgeries and heart caths coming up for Elli and Little Boy, and how I'll be getting them up early for those. There's something unique about those mornings, a strange mingling of peace, anxiety, pleasure in the fleeting moments alone with the child, and sadness of anticipating handing them over to the medical team in a few short hours.
This is day two of a marathon week for me. Little Boyhas a very long appointment today in which he must have sedation to keep him still for an echo, an ultrasound of his heart. They need good pictures in order to prepare for his surgery at the end of May.
I worked on Monday (once every two months, we have a midday council meeting on Mondays, which I co-facilitate). Thursday, I take Elli to Children's for two long appointments -- we'll be there almost all day. And Friday I take Little Boy to his 9-month check-up.
But God also blessed me with one day this week to stay home. It took some doing to keep Wednesday free (the test Elli has Thursday was originally scheduled for Wednesday), but God knew that I needed one day to just be home with the kids... and catch up on housework. (You can tell the weeks that I have many appointments -- the laundry, dishes, mail, and toys pile up because I'm just not home to take care of them!)
Weeks like this remind me of what a great plan God had when He created His church after the model of a body. 1 Corinthians 12:12-27 discusses the way we are knit together to complement one another and to serve one another. Each of us has specific weaknesses and strengths, which when combined into one cohesive whole, work together perfectly. These verses in particular have spoken to me when I've found myself in situations like this week, in need of much help from my brothers and sister in the Lord:
But in fact God has arranged the parts in the body, every one of them, just as he wanted them to be. If they were all one part, where would the body be? As it is, there are many parts, but one body.I thank God for the people in my church and family who regularly give of themselves, their time, their energy (I know it takes a lot of energy!), and their resources to help carry our burdens by watching our kids and helping around the house. You are each a blessing and a beautiful example of the sacrificial love of Christ.
But God has combined the members of the body and has given greater honor to the parts that lacked it, so that there should be no division in the body, but that its parts should have equal concern for each other. If one part suffers, every part suffers with it; if one part is honored, every part rejoices with it. Now you are the body of Christ, and each one of you is a part of it.
I pray that one day I will be in the position to help others in the same tangible ways that you have helped me. For now, God is teaching me humility in placing me in circumstances that require me to ask for and accept help. These are difficult lessons for the independent, self-sufficient spirit inside me! But I am confident that He can and will grow humility in my heart, despite my resistance and thick-headedness. I also know that as a member of the body of Christ, I learn these lessons in order to turn around and bless someone else in need.
Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves have received from God. For just as the sufferings of Christ flow over into our lives, so also through Christ our comfort overflows. If we are distressed, it is for your comfort and salvation; if we are comforted, it is for your comfort, which produces in you patient endurance of the same sufferings we suffer. And our hope for you is firm, because we know that just as you share in our sufferings, so also you share in our comfort.
2 Corinthians 1:3-7
