I took my daughter for her annual physical two days after Christmas. She is in perfect health from head to toe.
This is great news considering this is a child who gets a little itchy even to be in a room with fruit and vegetables. Yes, indeed, the carbohydrate queen is thriving at nine. Her health is this week's blessing.
As a healthy child, my daughter's biggest concerns are fitting in her fiction reading, clarinet playing, movie watching, sports playing, and sleeping into her routine. At this rate, her life promises to be good and long.
I especially appreciate this blessing because our lives have been touched by the lives of parents whose children suffer from Tay-Sachs Disease, AT Disorder, and Downs Syndrome. The only certainty in the lives of these parents is that their children will die young and that they will be with their children every step of the way of their foreshortened lives.
I can't begin to imagine what that must feel like. I image a life haunted by grief, yet what I see in these parents is the passion to make life as good and comfortable and meaningful and fun as possible for their children while they are here. How they work. Just glimpsing their lives is enough to stop me in my tracks and say amen and thank God for my healthy kid.
Glimpsing their lives, I know there is such a thing as love without end. I know too that life is not cruel but indifferent, yet that no set of limitations can render a life meaningless or valueless; we live well if we love well.
Health and happiness are ultimately conditions of the spirit. May we keep them well, too, that we might share in the joy of parents whose blessing is not to be found in their children's health but their own unstoppable hearts.
Blog Your Blessings
This is great news considering this is a child who gets a little itchy even to be in a room with fruit and vegetables. Yes, indeed, the carbohydrate queen is thriving at nine. Her health is this week's blessing.
As a healthy child, my daughter's biggest concerns are fitting in her fiction reading, clarinet playing, movie watching, sports playing, and sleeping into her routine. At this rate, her life promises to be good and long.
I especially appreciate this blessing because our lives have been touched by the lives of parents whose children suffer from Tay-Sachs Disease, AT Disorder, and Downs Syndrome. The only certainty in the lives of these parents is that their children will die young and that they will be with their children every step of the way of their foreshortened lives.
I can't begin to imagine what that must feel like. I image a life haunted by grief, yet what I see in these parents is the passion to make life as good and comfortable and meaningful and fun as possible for their children while they are here. How they work. Just glimpsing their lives is enough to stop me in my tracks and say amen and thank God for my healthy kid.
Glimpsing their lives, I know there is such a thing as love without end. I know too that life is not cruel but indifferent, yet that no set of limitations can render a life meaningless or valueless; we live well if we love well.
Health and happiness are ultimately conditions of the spirit. May we keep them well, too, that we might share in the joy of parents whose blessing is not to be found in their children's health but their own unstoppable hearts.
Blog Your Blessings
17 Comments
You realize as you grow older how special the gift life is...the more you become of aware of the world and the goings on in circles not too far removed from yourself, the more special health and well-being are. We always celebrate healthy children, it seems. We need, too , to celebrate the love and tenderness and devotion parents whose kids are terminally ill. They certainly are a blessing, too.
ReplyDeleteI can't think of a better blessing than to have a healthy child!
ReplyDeleteWonderful to hear your daughter got a good report on her annual physical. She sounds like a special blessing. We need to all count our blessings more often.
ReplyDeleteIs your daughter allergic to fruits and vegetables, or, like most, just not fond of them?
ReplyDeleteAfter three perfect sons were born to us (plus the fourth, a miscarriage), I rembering talking to God one day, and concluding that since there is somewhere a quota of deformed little kids, who would be better suited to handle a Downs baby or a retarded baby than my wife and me? And I offered our home. Child #4 turned out to be a perfect girl. Later, my partner developed a selfishness that would have made such a saint-like retsarded baby impossible. God knew best.
All I can say is...amen to that!
ReplyDeleteAgain, as always, you leave me very touched... especially because of something a little near and dear to Sue and myself...
ReplyDeletehttp://seminars.torontoghosts.org/blog/index.php/2006/12/22/my_own_christmas_miracle
Thanks again...
Your last sentence, "Health and happiness are ultimately conditions of the spirit. May we keep them well, too, that we might share in the joy of parents whose blessing is not to be found in their children's health but their own unstoppable hearts." says it all. Very positive outlook.
ReplyDeleteHappy BYB Sunday and thanks for dropping by.
Good to hear about the perfect health condition of your daughter. May she remain this way at all times!
ReplyDeleteWishing you and your family a Happy and Prosperous New Year, 2008!
My nightly prayer includes the phrase, "Thank you for this children. Please keep them safe, healthy, happy and free from harm." I thank God daily for my healthy children. There really is no better blessing.
ReplyDeleteI just received a Christmas card from a young couple who are celebrating four years of perfect health of their adopted daughter. Five years ago, we buried their natural son, a blessed boy who was born with Down's syndrome and heart disease. Health is God's greatest blessing to us all.
ReplyDeleteAll the best in 2008.
Happy BYB Sunday Sandy, and all the best for 2008!
ReplyDeleteWonderful blessings indeed that your daughter is so healthy! And Happy New Year!! See ya in 2008!
ReplyDeleteSandy, I'm so glad that your daughter is healthy and thriving! And now I know who plays the clarinet so well...:)
ReplyDelete".....And she sleeps neath the arms of an angel..."
ReplyDeleteGod bless you each bountiful in the coming year.
Thank you Sandy, for writing, in such faith!
I love ya' bones!
~Suzanne
Hi Sandy. A lovely post--it made me smile.
ReplyDeleteIs there a "hub" for the blog your blessings meme/theme somewhere?
Linda
http://www.ravensroads.com
I'm glad your daughter's physical went well and she is in good health Sandy. When you hear of poor children with life threatening diseases, it really makes you count you blessings and appreciate the fact you have a healthy child.
ReplyDeletei have pondered briefly sometime that if was a father, how would i respond if my child was suffering from a disease or other
ReplyDeletestill, i subscribe to the school that we need to love each & all our children differently as each requires
with all that said, health is indeed one of the best blessings one can have
Thanks for being here.