I remember telling both of my kids when they were little that they were not mine; they were God’s and that he let their mother and me take care of them.
Children are truly a gift from God; he created them just as he created each of us.
It’s easy for us to conceptualize the love we feel for a parent; for most of us we can feel the love for a spouse or a very close friend. Until you have a child of your own, you cannot fathom the love you can feel for another person.
Once you feel that love, that depth of love, it becomes terrifying to think that you might lose it, whether through an accident (I’m almost there as my oldest is now 16), or through illness of some sort.
Timothy Dalrymple at Patheos writes of his experience with his infant daughter where she suddenly became seriously ill and had to be rushed to the hospital and how much, in retrospect from the calm afterward, he truly hated that experience.
There was no part of me, as we rushed to the emergency room that night, that wished my daughter gone and my freedom restored. Not the slightest part of me thought I should be happier without her. Instead, I knew with terrible certainty that if this small, fragile, quivering creature against my chest were to leave me, she would take all my joy with her. And no part of me would have preferred that she had never come to be, if she could only be for thirteen months and then be no more. Her thirteen months had made my life worth living.
I can truly empathize with him. I can’t imagine life without my sons.
Even if I sometimes think I want to kill ’em.
[…] Excerpt from: Children Are God's Gift To Us | Hambone […]
I believe the worst pain a parent (biological or adoptive) can experience is the loss of a child, regardless of age or circumstance. One does not expect to bury one’s child. That isn’t the way it is supposed to be. The child buries the parent, or so it says in the book of life. Neighbors lost their 32-year-old son to… Read more »
Oh, and the “gift” thing. I remember tucking Lovely into bed one night, and I think she was about five or so, and made the comment “I’m glad God loaned you to me.” “What do you mean, Mommy?” “You are God’s child, and he’s loaning you to me for me to raise. That means I get to love you and… Read more »
When Handsome Son was born, it was after a 25 1/2 hour delivery, and so was put into a Level II nursery – not regular and not NICU. They kept him there for two days to run blood cultures to be sure he didn’t contract any illnesses during the long delivery. I sent Lovely Daughter to a brother’s house for… Read more »
Ms Simple and I raise our granddaughter. Our angel had a rough first few years and it was necessary to convert a bedroom into a virtual hospital complete with monitors and oxygen generators. We had many scares during that period. I remember one night when Angel could not get her breath even with oxygen assistance. We made the decision to… Read more »
I logically conclude that I must have existed prior to becoming a parent, but I just can’t at all remember what I did with all the extra time. WB, 16 is only the beginning. At least when they’re little, you can keep them corralled. A couple of weeks ago, it was nearing midnight and my 20 year old hadn’t come… Read more »
[…] Excerpt from: Children Are God's Gift To Us | Hambone […]
I believe the worst pain a parent (biological or adoptive) can experience is the loss of a child, regardless of age or circumstance. One does not expect to bury one’s child. That isn’t the way it is supposed to be. The child buries the parent, or so it says in the book of life. Neighbors lost their 32-year-old son to… Read more »
Oh, and the “gift” thing. I remember tucking Lovely into bed one night, and I think she was about five or so, and made the comment “I’m glad God loaned you to me.” “What do you mean, Mommy?” “You are God’s child, and he’s loaning you to me for me to raise. That means I get to love you and… Read more »
When Handsome Son was born, it was after a 25 1/2 hour delivery, and so was put into a Level II nursery – not regular and not NICU. They kept him there for two days to run blood cultures to be sure he didn’t contract any illnesses during the long delivery. I sent Lovely Daughter to a brother’s house for… Read more »
Ms Simple and I raise our granddaughter. Our angel had a rough first few years and it was necessary to convert a bedroom into a virtual hospital complete with monitors and oxygen generators. We had many scares during that period. I remember one night when Angel could not get her breath even with oxygen assistance. We made the decision to… Read more »
I logically conclude that I must have existed prior to becoming a parent, but I just can’t at all remember what I did with all the extra time. WB, 16 is only the beginning. At least when they’re little, you can keep them corralled. A couple of weeks ago, it was nearing midnight and my 20 year old hadn’t come… Read more »