Another Day

Another day, another baseball game. Unfortunately, the Pigs lost the playoffs and I have a very downcast little brother.

I've spent most of the last two days thinking about my childhood. I view my life as being on the opposite side of seven crazy years, starting with my mom's first miscarriage and A-'s asthma and ending with my father's cancer. Those years were tough years for me and my family. There were nights we cried ourselves to sleep and there were nights we never slept. We were on numerous diets for one or the other of the siblings, we learned how to use oxygen tanks and how to deal with sugar crashes. More than anything, we learned perseverance, patience, courage, compassion and gentleness, despite the grouchiness of the people involved or the desirability of the situation.

And now I'm on the other side, wondering where my life is headed. A part of me, a very rash part, is saying that I can take more punishment, bring it on! And another part of me says that what God gives, God gives, but don't ask for more than He allots! It is rather like Jotham and striking the ground with the arrow three times. Perhaps God really does give not only rest within the storm but also freedom from storms. At least in this period of my life.