Life

I have been reminded a couple times lately of the story that is famous in my extended family - the one of my great-grandmother, who was born, as I understand it, prematurely and presumed dead at birth. She was placed in some sort of tea kettle which was slid under the bed while everyone attended to her mother. There, in those quiet, undisturbed moments, future generations were poised on the brink of existence as a tiny baby gradually began to breathe and warm all by herself. Evenually her aunt pulled out the tea kettle to examine her and found, undoubtedly with amazement, that she was alive. That baby lived into her eighties, and her numerous descendents have always considered those first precarious moments of her life with awe, since without them, of course, we would not be.

I posted last year about the young mother I know who went into labor with her apparently healthy, full-term son, only to discover with horror and sadness that he was never even to draw his first breath. The answers given her in the following months were less than conclusive, and so she may never know for certain what happened. Of course she trusts in God's sovereignity, as do I, and I am not questioning Him in the least - only marveling at the mysterious nature of the life he has given us here on earth. How can it be that it can be at once so fragile and yet so strong and resilient? Even farther past the reach of our human understanding is when life that seems to be weak is given inexplicable strength, and life that seems to be full of vigor is blown out in an equally unexplained moment.

One of the times I think about all this iswhen I get together with my good friend Lisa and her brood. I posted about our most recent visit to them, and when she sent me a picture taken at that visit - the traditional one we pose all our kids for - I was struck again by how amazing is this Life that God has given us. I always remember our days as girls, and then as teenagers, full of dreams, hopes, and expectations for our lives, and both completely unitiated in the mysteries of that life:

Years later, these are the souls, the life, God has given us among our two families, each with a place in this mysterious and wonderful tapestry: