Previous Challenge Entry (Level 3 - Advanced)
Topic: Beginning and End (04/16/09)
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TITLE: That's My Girl | Previous Challenge Entry
By Glenda Lagerstedt
04/19/09 -
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The wonder of the newborn child. The long-waited appearance of the tiny person who has been growing for months in the obscurity of the womb. The new beginning. Wrapped in this miniature flesh is a lifetime and, yes, an eternity of potential. Any welcoming angel must be breathless as each new miracle makes his or her debut into the world.
With all due respect to these wee little folk and no offense intended I think they all resemble pollywogs. Cute warm pollywogs, but pollywogs nonetheless. But I digress here.
No matter how long the sleepless nights and harried days ahead, they pass quickly and begin to add up. The pollywogs start to resemble frogs as they sleep on their tummies, toes tucked inward, arms and knees outspread. And before we know it, they learn to sit, crawl, stand and walk. Their journey through life is well underway.
How we wish we could give the world a gift…a gift that would assure each child a pleasant and safe passage. Hearts ache when we hear too many (even one is too many) reports of children harmed in physical or emotional ways, abandoned, abused or victims of cruel illness, etc. We worry about our own children and grandchildren. What will this world offer them?
It is my opinion that very few of us can honestly say that we don’t question God, that our faith doesn’t falter and even crash in the dark of the night. When we cry out, He tells us, “My ways are higher than your ways.” Anger, fear and cynicism respond, “You have got to be kidding me.” We rail at the heavens.
I am no theologian; there are no pat answers. He says “Trust Me.” I look around and wonder what choice we have. There doesn’t seem to be much else.
Days become weeks, the weeks become months until years have passed. Preschool. Kindergarten. Then elementary school, middle school, high school and for all, the School of Hard Knocks. College or Tech school for many. And along the way, a new generation begins and the progression continues.
Parents repeat or improve upon the process their own parents modeled with the new generation. Life on the fast track, busy, busy and…oh my where did that gray hair come from? Pluck it out, cover it up, live with it or see it as a badge of honor. I don’t think there is any right or wrong choice here because no matter how we choose to handle it, the years march relentlessly.
Oh so relentlessly. Gravity goes beyond its purpose of holding us and our belongings safely on Planet Earth and begins to mess with our skin.
Recently I was holding my two-year-old granddaughter on my lap. We love these cuddle sessions, her and I. I held her close and breathed the sweet scent of her shampoo.
“Oh Grammie just loves you so much,” I told her. She snuggled her head closer to my shoulder and gently began to massage my upper arm.
“Grammie?” she said.
“What, sweet girl?”
“You are squishy!” (And here I had fondly hoped that the wobbling flesh I saw as I combed my hair was a flaw in the mirror.)
That’s my girl! And so much for denial.
The years continue to scuttle forward and I hope I have many more to spend in the company of my girl . The reality is that one day sooner or later this life will end, whether it is through death or when Jesus comes. But is it an end?
John 3:16 tells us that God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son that whosoever believes on Him shall have everlasting life. Sounds like a Beginning to me… and an eternity of continuous undefiled potential.
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