My children are God's greatest gifts to me. How I love being their mother. How I long to take their pain away. Yet I am aware that all of life's deepest and most meaningful gifts of knowledge, wisdom and experience have come only through pain.
In the past few weeks my grandson Caleb has been in the hospital with a life threatening condition, my daughter Amy had emergency surgery to have her appendix removed and now my son Joseph also has suffered a ruptured appendix. All three conditions have brought my dear ones near death.
Facing the tenuous nature of life so many times in such a few days has left me deeply humbled. Life is so fragile and so dear.
Through these difficult weeks I've watched as my healthy children have come to the aid of their brothers and sisters in pain with babysitting, meals, prayers, gifts, cards, phone calls, flowers and visits. There is a deep abiding strength that comes when close loving family members bear each other burdens.
Where there is great love, there are always miracles.
Where there is great love, even life's most bitter moments can be sweet.
