...My purpose is to give life in all its fullness
(John 10:10, nlt)
A Full Life
By Sandi Raymond
I’ve got my hands full. Anyone who’s ever been mother to one beginning to toddle can testify to that. Between fighting the baby over sleeping schedules and keeping my husband’s laundry picked up off the floor, I sometimes make it to the end of the day before I realize I haven’t even brushed my teeth. Before I cross the line to complaining, let me say Praise God!
I remember a time not long ago when my hands were not so full – in fact they were quite empty. On 14 July 2003, I discovered that I was pregnant with our first child. Instead of experiencing the joy of expecting a new baby, I laid my head on Marcus’ (my husband) shoulder and cried. God is merciful; somehow he warned us from the beginning that we would lose that first baby. It was very hard to make it through the weeks and months following the loss of our baby. Compounded by the fact that another lady in our family was due to deliver a son just one week before my due date, emptiness seemed to pervade my senses.
I can recall watching a very pregnant young lady picking out produce at Wal-Mart shortly after the miscarriage. Seeing someone familiar to her, she began to express the woes of pregnancy: from swollen feet to aching back. I fought back tears and thought to myself Oh, I’d give anything to deal with the aches and pains of pregnancy. Sure enough, when I began to experience the queasiness of early pregnancy a year and a half later, I was careful to praise God for the health of my child.
I’m sure most of you have heard it said that some of us greet the day by saying, “Good morning, Lord,” while others of us stumble around saying, “Good Lord, it’s morning.” It is the difference in perspective. Morning sickness is not a blessing unless you’ve missed out on it by skipping the experience of carrying a baby.
I have what one new friend termed a “high maintenance” baby. Most of those who know us argue with me, since he’s always grins and giggles when they see him at church. I could settle the argument once and for all by offering to let them peek through my windows at home. All it takes is 5 minutes of Lucas having less than my undivided attention, while I do something ridiculously selfish like eat a sandwich or go to the restroom, for him to dissolve into a snotty, howling lump on the floor.
God gave me a renewed perspective of thanksgiving one especially trying day in the first weeks of Lucas’ life. I remembered suddenly how empty my arms had felt with no baby to hold. Although it didn’t make doing the daily chores while holding an infant any easier to accomplish, it made me grateful for Lucas’ life. I told Marcus that evening, “Thank God, my arms aren’t empty any more.”
Perhaps we should pray for a Godly perspective in every area of life if we find ourselves doing a lot of complaining. Earlier I mentioned doing laundry for Marcus. I remember a time before we were married that I actually had the foolish audacity to daydream about doing his laundry, because it would mean that I was his wife.
Occasionally my mind wonders into morbid territory where I consider life without my husband or my child. It’s a silly, hormonal thing for a woman to do. My pastor’s wife pointed out recently that perhaps God allows such thoughts to marinate in our minds in order to make us more thankful. When my imagination runs wild to a place where I’m faced with the highly emotional task of washing Marcus’ laundry for the very last time, I again find the joy in picking up his stinky socks…just because they’re his, and he is alive and well!
The fact is that we all have our hands full. Take a moment to think what they’re full of, though. Jesus said in John 10:10, “I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly.” Did you know that abundant is a synonym for full? If your day seems full of chores to be done, it is because you have been blessed with a house to live in. If your evening is full of dishes to wash, it’s because you have plenty of food to cook. If you’re tripping over toys filling the floor, it’s because your child or grandchild has the health to play with them.
Praise God for the fullness in our lives, even when it sometimes seems overwhelming. Let’s count our husbands and children as blessings, and ask God for the strength to be the wives and mothers he intended us to be. Praise God for the fullness in our lives, even when it sometimes seems overwhelming. Let’s count our husbands and children as blessings, and ask God for the strength to be the wives and mothers he intended us to be.
© 2006 Sandi Raymond
Used By Permission
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Notes: Sandi Raymond is the granddaughter-in-law of one of Faithwriters regular contributors, Thomas Kittrell. This article was contributed by Thomas who also has a website ministry. Please feel free to visit his site at dustonthebible and let Thomas help you to 'dust off your bible and read it'.
