Tuesday, January 08, 2008

Psalm 119 and all that...

Often we want to be able to see into the future. We say, "How will next year be for me? Where will I be five or ten years from now?" There are no answers to these questions. Mostly we have just enough light to see the next step: what we have to do in the coming hour or the following day. The art of living is to enjoy what we can see and not complain about what remains in the dark. When we are able to take the next step with the trust that we will have enough light for the step that follows, we can walk through life with joy and be surprised at how far we go. Let's rejoice in the little light we carry and not ask for the great beam that would take all shadows away.

(With thanks to the Henri Nouwen Society)

Following on from yesterday's thoughts about Psalm 119, here's an impossibly apposite quote from Henri Nouwen!

No news from the hospital this morning - late last night all was serene; they were going to look at Carly and baby again in the morning.

2 comments:

Kelly Joyce Neff said...

Dear Mike, again, speaking as a midwife, unless the woman is 43 or 44 weeks or thre is some problem with the baby, anything else to 'get the abour going' on the part of the hospital, unless it has stalled after going for a very long time, is pure 'wanting to get their oar in'. Medicine doesn't like it that this is one of the areas about which they can do almost nothing to determine when and how birth will begin. It depends solely on the baby, and God.

The Freeman curve, against which the progress of labour is judged, is completely artifical - based on an 'average'. And first babies TEND to take longer to start and to arrive. But not always. This is one area where we really must let go and let God. It's nerve-wracking, but I think you are going an excellent job.

So pray, let everyone breathe peace around the little mother, and be still and know that soon everything will be hopping, and the new little one will be among us.

Congraulations!

Jan said...

Wishing peace for you all and joy, of course.