Thursday, October 9, 2014

Open Heart

There are moments in life where it seems the world stops turning.  The kind of moments that rock your world completely.  Moments that are scary, joyous, heartbreaking, exciting, confusing, or shocking.  But moments that matter so much that it is hard to believe the world around you is continuing as normal.

A diagnosis

A phone call

A birth

A death

Many such moments have come and gone for myself and family.   How can the concerns of the rest of this world matter when I am wrapped up in love holding my newborn?  When I am wrapped up in exhaustion and grief caring for a dying family member?  When my husband needs emergency surgery?  When my children just need to sit in my lap?  When a friend refers to your relationship in the past tense and cuts ties?  When my husband and I spend our first weekend alone in 10 years?  When the knitting together in my womb stops?  When my Daddy has a stroke?

 I vividly remember where I was, what I was wearing, and what was said the last time I sat on my Pop & Granny's couch in Marietta, GA as Granny patted my leg and told me it was okay that they were moving.  It wasn't for me.  My world was rocked.  I certainly remember the look on my Pop's face and his body language that spoke louder than any words I have ever heard the moment the surgeon told him my Granny's open heart surgery was done and successful.  Relief.  His world had stopped until the news on his wife came. 

My world has been slowing this week as we have been waiting for answers and plans concerning my Daddy.  He is having open heart surgery tomorrow.  TOMORROW.  Open heart.  My world is now stopping.  This is my Daddy.  My Daddy.

Yet, the world will continue turning for most this weekend.  There will be shopping, eating, dancing, football, playing, traveling, working, cleaning and the like going on all this weekend.  But, for some, there will be moments for whom the world stops.  There will be a couple getting married.  There will be tremendous loss.  There will be someone who finds out they are being transferred.  There will be a new mommy wrapped up in love with her newborn. 

I wonder what Mary felt as she birthed and held in her new mommy arms, her Savior? THE Savior.  God with us.  Immanuel.  I imagine her world stopped turning.  The rest of this world continued.  For Mary, the world stopped.  Yet, it was for this very world that the Savior came.  God knew that, in the sleepy little town of Bethlehem, life was continuing as normal for most.  He knew that His entrance would barely be noticed.  Barely. noticed!  And He created the world.  He was willing to humble Himself more than we can ever understand.  The Creator, deserving of all praise and glory, barely noticed.  This world-stopping moment for Mary was God's plan to save His lost world.  Saving for those that hear and answer His call on their hearts.  You see, whether our hearts are beating slowly, quickly, or even kept going by a bypass machine during surgery, they are in His hands.

Whether our world is spinning, completely stopped, or seemingly spinning out of control, He is in control.  It is in these moments that our own little worlds stop that we are afforded the perfect opportunity to experience His presence. 

My Daddy (and sweet Momma, whose world is at a complete standstill) is in God's hands.  The same God who authors the moments of our lives and works to bring us closer to Him so He can receive glory, knows my name.

And when I barely notice Him, He is still faithful.  

While I may experience many more world-stopping moments in my life, I am called by the Creator of this world to care about the others in it.  As He does.  Willing to notice these moments in the lives of others and point them to the One who brings them their joy or comforts them in their sorrow.

The One and Only worthy of glory.

Our hearts are deceitful above all else.  God doesn't just bypass our heart's issues.  He changes our hearts if, and only if, we put our hearts in the capable Surgeon's and Savior's hands.

Oh, Father, may I praise you in the ordinary and in the moments when my world stops turning.  You know my heart and You still love me.  Amazing love!

***Update:  My Dad's surgery went well and he is currently going to cardiac rehab 3 times a week and getting stronger every day.***

2 comments:

  1. Praying for your father and keeping you and your family lifted up for God's peace and strength. Remember...God has this!!!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Thank you so much for your kind words and prayers!

    ReplyDelete