A Room with a View
June 29, 2016Three weeks ago tonight, my 91-year-old dad fell and broke his hip. Many of you who read my blog also follow me on Facebook and so you have been following my dad’s progress to date. That night was a game changer for our family because life as we had been enjoying it with my parents all of sudden became very different. We are not experiencing anything that many before us, many right now, and many in the future will experience, but it is a new season for us. If God is gracious enough to allow us to have our parents as they age, the likelihood of a fall or some other issue increases even though we may hope against the odds.
I can honestly say that we are experiencing God’s grace and provision in so many ways and amidst so many complicating factors in addition to my dad’s fracture. You know what they say, “When it rains, it pours!” So we’ve been experiencing several other raindrops in addition to visiting my dad and caring for my mom which makes this season even more challenging and even more difficult to “consider it all joy”. But in God’s strength we’re doing our best to endure and say thank you for what God has for us.
Since my dad’s fall I have been staying with my mom at her house and every morning when I open my eyes, the first thing I see is a beautiful Chinese dogwood tree outside the bedroom window. Every morning this is my first view:
One night, hey only one, I had great difficulty resting. I tossed and turned while overwhelmed with thoughts, concerns, and quite frankly anxiety over my circumstances. I finally fell asleep for a couple of hours and when I opened my eyes, I once again saw the beautiful tree. However, I also saw something I never saw on any other morning. I saw one of the dogwood blossoms had a heart in its center. Perhaps it was a shadow of the petals? I’m not sure but I believe God gave that heart to me as a reminder of His loving kindness and care for my family and me. And in recent days, as the blossoms have fallen from the tree, the heart remained a few days longer. A solitary visual of God’s love and protection! Can you see it?
“How precious is Your lovingkindness, O God! And the children of men take refuge in the shadow of Your wings.”
Psalm 36:7