Charity

I am now recovered from a very unpleasant 24-hour illness that struck while Chris was out of state for a funeral--and where he became laid up because of residual neck pain from his surgery, so he couldn't get home to me! I was, at times, totally incapacitated while in the care of my three littles and I felt vulnerable. Meanwhile, Mary ran wild with abandon since I could do literally nothing about it (e.g., imagine her having squirted out half a tube of blue toothpaste and spreading it all over the bathroom and her body). And, of all the mornings, that was the very one when Margaret learned how to scootch with speed and efficiency, so I'd plunk her on the floor when I could hardly move and she'd scootch away across the room, much to my alarm.

But the experience (so short-lived, praise God) left me meditating on two things . . .

(Photo source)  One, just like one sees little children, particularly in Third World countries, who are left to their own devices, children are independent much younger than we think here in America. I discovered when I was too weak to carry my own baby that John is quite capable of carrying her, when she weighs half his weight! In fact, even Mary can maneuver the baby pretty well, not that that was safe. John and Mary made their own meals, since Mary can climb anywhere to reach anything and John can operate machinery (like the toaster oven). I learned that Mary can answer my cell phone and talk intelligibly to an adult. (Mary even passed on the message to me, but I thought she was playing imagination, so it was good the woman called me back and told me she had talked to my daughter who told me I was unavailable because I was upstairs changing the baby's diaper.) I learned that John could run down our long driveway and put mail out for me.

(Photo source)  More importantly, the experience had me meditating upon charity (from the Latin for 'love') because I was blessed to receive so much of it. One neighbor picked up my prescription for me at the drug store, but then also showed up with a full dinner for the children in hand plus paper plates and plastic utensils. One friend came before her shift at work and babysat my kids for two critical hours. The next morning (when I was still alone and weak, needing to recuperate), another friend took my two big kids for more than three hours for a fabulous French toast brunch, super fun play date, and lunch. When I could eat again, I ate homemade soup from a friend of mine who had given me a jar some weeks ago, "just because." And I had a neighbor standing by, ready to help with anything else I needed.

I get to witness charity often, but it is not so often God reduces me such that I need to receive it. I really felt very loved.