Saturday, March 18, 2006


Anna... still smiling, even with a chipped left front tooth. Posted by Picasa

I Feel Great!

Okay, so a few weeks ago I was taking a nap in the middle of the day (on my day off) and I woke up to the most horrible, blood curdling scream… It was my two year old, Anna. I jumped out of bed, ran out of my room and saw her running toward me. From the kitchen through the living room and right in to Daddy’s arms she ran, screaming the whole way. When I saw her, I freaked at first because her face was absolutely covered in blood… her blood. I decided to pull myself together enough to comfort her and just held her close. Christy and Norah were close behind. It turns out that they were on a walk around our block when Anna fell and slammed her face into the pavement…

I have heard Anna cry and scream for many reasons in her short little life so far and it’s usually pretty hard to hear, but I have to say that something changed in me when I saw her bleeding. I don’t know… I wasn’t really ready for it, but it’s just different when you see your own child’s life stuff… anyway, there I am holding my screaming little, bleeding little girl, telling her it’s going to be alright when the coolest thing happened. For some stupid reason in that moment I asked her, “Are you Okay?” I mean, come on… the poor thing has just had pavement for lunch and I’m asking if she’s Okay? But Anna, holding on to me said through blood, snot and tears said, “I feel great!”

Now, I have to tell you that my Anna is quite the talker at age two... I know, everyone thinks their kids are geniuses, but I know mine is. I mean, when you sing a song, she tells you who the artist is. No kidding. She talks constantly about everything, but she has only learned words for a few emotions: ‘sad’, ‘okay’, and ‘great.’ Whenever you ask her, “How you doin’?” she always says, “I’m feelin’ great!” Now you would think that after crashing face first into Everest Circle, cutting up her face and chipping one of her two front teeth that she would choose ‘sad’ or maybe even ‘okay,’ but no… held up and held close in her Daddy’s arms, she said, “I feel great!”

James said, “Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance.” (James 1:2-3) And Paul said, “Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice! Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near.” (Philippians 4:4-5) Whatever we go through, we should be dancing! We were dead in our sins and Jesus has freely forgiven us and guaranteed us a home in heaven with Him forever! When we think about what we have, in light of what we deserve, we should be happy all of the time! Not just happy though… we should throw a party all of the time! If we suffer and go through hard times, we should consider it PURE JOY! Now when was the last time you did that? No matter what you go through, you’re forgiven, righteous, heaven-bound and always in your Daddy’s arms. Now… don’t you “feel great?”

No comments:

Cluster Map