Is this the little girl I carried?
We have another reason to praise the Lord, my five-year-old grandson came through his surgery well. He did have a little trouble waking up from the anesthesia, but once that was ironed out he got to come home. My granddaughter sent a picture of him to my cell phone. The hardest part for him about the surgery was the fasting, he complained about being hungry and thirsty before surgery. The picture is of my daughter holding the five-year-old just after he had surgery, and I couldn’t help asking myself, where has all the time gone? In the picture my daughters back is to the camera, and the little boy’s newly bandaged arm is extended over her back. Because my daughter is of petite stature, the five-year-old looks is nearly as big as she is, while being held. When your little ones are hurt, I think it makes a parent age 5 years. You want to take their pain away, and relieve them of any and all discomfort. It won’t be long until my daughter looks at that picture and ask herself, “where has all the time gone?”
Whenever I have a chance, I will use music and songs to enhance an idea I am trying to put forward. In this case the song happens to be:
SUNRISE, SUNSET
Lewis Bock Jerrold / Sheldon Harnick
Is this the little girl I carried?
Is this the little boy at play?
I don’t remember growing older,
When did they?
When did she get to be a beauty?
When did he grow to be so tall?
Wasn’t it yesterday when they were small?
Sunrise sunset, sunrise, sunset,
Swiftly flow the days,
Seedlings turn overnight to sunflowers,
Blossoming even as they gaze…
Sunrise sunset, sunrise, sunset!
Swiftly fly the years,
One season following another,
Laden with happiness and tears…
One season following another,
Laden with happiness and tears…
This song pretty much sums up the idea of time flying so swiftly by, you lose track of it. Life has a way of getting very busy just cooking, and cleaning, and being a taxicab driver. We must hold tight to every moment we have with our children and our grandchildren, and be grateful for them. The Bible tells us: to raise up a child the way he should go and when he is old he will not depart from it. It also tells us: to raise our children in the fear and admonition of the Lord. That it may be well with thee, and thou mayest live long upon the earth.
I’m sure there will be many instances in our lives, which we will look back on with fond memories, and perhaps sadness. The most important thing about that look backwards, is knowing that we did everything in our power to raise up strong, healthy, Christian children.
If someone would have told me on the day I got married, that I would be the mother of six children, and grandmother of 21, I wonder what my reaction would have been? Looking back I would not change that decision, for the Lord has blessed me more than my heart can hold. The one key question I would have to ask myself would be; did I do everything I could to prepare my children for the life that stretched out in front of them? It is my fervent prayer that my children would answer with a resounding yes.
As parents we get so caught up in the day-to-day living that we let many days go by without thanking God for the blessings he gives us. Little accidents that could have been tragedies, little cuts and scrapes, where the pain can be eliminated with just a kiss, we should be truly thankful. Let each and every parent and grandparent, do our part in raising our children, in the fear and admonition of the Lord, as we are commanded in the Bible. No, ‘should have, could have, would have, if we had only known’, it is all there in black and white read it, and do it.
We as authors are afforded the opportunity of do overs in our writings. We simply pull page out of the typewriter and tear it up and throw away, or simply push the backwards key until it erases our foolishness. What a wonderful keystroke this would be in real life, unfortunately we must live with our mistakes, so let us choose wisely when dealing with our loved ones. There are no do overs in real life, and there is an expiration date on everyone’s life. Make the most of it!
When I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child: but when I became a man, I put away childish things.
I Corinthians 13:11
Chasten thy son while there is hope, and let not thy soul spare for his crying.
Proverbs 19:18
Foolishness is bound in the heart of a child; but the rod of correction shall drive it far from him.
Proverbs 22:15
If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him.
James 1:5
There is one body, and one Spirit, even as ye are called in one hope of your calling;
One Lord, one faith, one baptism,
One God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all.
Ephesians 4:4-6