When I began this project I looked ahead to what theme we had for this week, the week where the anniversary of my life being changed forever fell, the anniversary of the worst day of my life. I thought of the four themes and thought of how I could write about each of them in this emotion charged week.
If it was the week of Hope I could write about the hope we had at Mt. Sinai. The hope an amazing medical team can bring. I could write about the song "With Hope" that I shared...because although I wasn't filled with hope that fated day, I learned that I could say goodbye with Hope, it was o.k. Or I could simply write about the hope that having a child in Heaven gives you....the motivation to be all Christ asks you to be to ensure salvation. The hope I had that I would see my son again.
Or maybe it would be the week of love. Writing about love on the week we relive those days would be easy for I knew of a love so intense and powerful then. The love I felt and still feel for Dr. Ryan and his team. The love I felt for my parents who dropped everything they were doing to come to Toronto to be with me. Or the love I had for my husband, for all he was then, all he showed me emotionally and all he held back. I could write about the outpouring of love that we received in the days and months the followed those first days. And most of all, I could write about the love I had for each of my twins and for what I've learned about love from a little boy who never took his first breath.
Or perhaps it would be the week of peace and I could write about the ways I found peace, even in just a small amount then or the ways I've found peace since then. Or even about some of the things that brought me peace then and now.
But Joy, now that would be a tough one.
How could I write about joy as I remember how dark that time was. How can I write about joy in a week that has so little joy in it. Last year at this time I wrote in this blog about how, maybe one day, I'd find joy in this day... "I hate this day and I am not sure I will ever NOT hate this day. I am very certain that in time this day will have joyful memories...of things we do, of things the boys do or say. But right now it just SUCKS!!! ... "I know that in time there will be happier thoughts of this day and that I will be able to cope better with it. I have hope...I didn't lose it that day or in the days that followed. I know that Cole is in an amazing place and that he is the lucky one. He will never live with stress, with illness, with pain, with heartache. I know he lives with loss, I know that he misses us all. But he has God and Jesus to comfort him and he is very aware of what the reasons are for him to be there and us to be here. And as life continues on and I can see those reasons more clearly I am sure that it will be easier for me too. But for now, for today, I am going to cry, I am going to feel a heart wrenching sadness, I am going to wish that life was different. It's just where I am, it's just who I am.
I wondered when I started this project how on earth I'd write about joy this week, how I'd find joy this week. I even said to Geoff that I wished this wasn't the week of joy, that it would be so much easier if it wasn't. But instead of agreeing with me, Geoff said that maybe this was the point, that God had brought it to me...that our angel day falls during the week of joy on the year I take this project on so that I will be forced to reflect on the hardest of the four for that week.
So I guess we'll see how I do.
Incidentally, today marks the beginning of this three day journey down memory lane that began with an ultrasound, an immediate rush trip to Toronto and four words that changed my life forever. Today I remember my naive optimism.
Sunday, December 11, 2011
Saturday, December 10, 2011
Who loved you first???
On this last day of the week of love I decided to really focus on the biblical word and meaning of love. When I began searching for scripture and sources online I came across the same chapter of 1 John that I wrote about earlier but this time instead of focusing on our love, human love I am writing about spiritual love, the love of God the father and Jesus the son.
1 John 4:9-10
New International Version (NIV)
9 This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. 10 This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins.
Some theologians say this is how God showed or demonstrated his love for us. Love is revealed through actions. It is not just a feeling you have when you first begin dating someone, it’s not just the feeling you get when you hug your child, parent, spouse, friend etc. Love is something you do. In the birth of Jesus, in this human being, the revelation of God’s love was revealed as being real and authoritative and personal. God makes his love aware to us through the season of Christmas and because of Christ. Christmas is love animated and breathing, dynamic and alive!
Jesus is the way God shows his love for us. He came and lived as a demonstration of who God is. The bible tells us tells us that Jesus “is the image of the invisible God.”( Colossians 1:15) and says “For in Christ lives all the fullness of God in a human body.”( Colossians 2:9) As Jesus lived he showed us how God loves us. He spent his time healing the sick, including the excluded, and setting free the oppressed. Not only was Jesus, his Father, God, in human flesh form, but also in the way he lived his life.. displaying mercy, kindness and compassion.
1 John 4:11-12 Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. 12 No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us.
As God has proven, in the life and death of Jesus, His great love for us. If He can do this for us, surely we can demonstrate his love in everything we do and say (this is the motto of the church we attend). As Christians, God calls us to be witnesses and ambassadors for Him. We demonstrate the reality of God through the active ways we love.
We have never seen God but we have seen His work, all around us, all the time. It’s in the beauty of the sunrise, the gentle rain that falls. It is in the first smile of an innocent baby and in the laughter of happy, excited children. It’s in everything we have, in everything we are. He lives in each of us through our talents and His love is made complete in each and every person.
People always talk about the spirit of Christmas, the spirit of giving. We work at teaching others, through our actions, about acts of kindness, giving and not receiving, giving to the needy, helping, sharing…giving the gift of our joy and happiness to the world at large. People are always seen smiling and saying Merry Christmas or (cringe) Happy Holidays. But Christmas shouldn’t begin and end in December – it should saturate every part of our life all year round. The entire thing of God loving us first and giving His Son Jesus so that we can have eternal life and know Him needs to be demonstrated in our life at every minute. As God loved us we should go and do the same in every minute of every day.
1 John 4:9-10
New International Version (NIV)
9 This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. 10 This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins.
Some theologians say this is how God showed or demonstrated his love for us. Love is revealed through actions. It is not just a feeling you have when you first begin dating someone, it’s not just the feeling you get when you hug your child, parent, spouse, friend etc. Love is something you do. In the birth of Jesus, in this human being, the revelation of God’s love was revealed as being real and authoritative and personal. God makes his love aware to us through the season of Christmas and because of Christ. Christmas is love animated and breathing, dynamic and alive!
Jesus is the way God shows his love for us. He came and lived as a demonstration of who God is. The bible tells us tells us that Jesus “is the image of the invisible God.”( Colossians 1:15) and says “For in Christ lives all the fullness of God in a human body.”( Colossians 2:9) As Jesus lived he showed us how God loves us. He spent his time healing the sick, including the excluded, and setting free the oppressed. Not only was Jesus, his Father, God, in human flesh form, but also in the way he lived his life.. displaying mercy, kindness and compassion.
1 John 4:11-12 Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. 12 No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us.
As God has proven, in the life and death of Jesus, His great love for us. If He can do this for us, surely we can demonstrate his love in everything we do and say (this is the motto of the church we attend). As Christians, God calls us to be witnesses and ambassadors for Him. We demonstrate the reality of God through the active ways we love.
We have never seen God but we have seen His work, all around us, all the time. It’s in the beauty of the sunrise, the gentle rain that falls. It is in the first smile of an innocent baby and in the laughter of happy, excited children. It’s in everything we have, in everything we are. He lives in each of us through our talents and His love is made complete in each and every person.
People always talk about the spirit of Christmas, the spirit of giving. We work at teaching others, through our actions, about acts of kindness, giving and not receiving, giving to the needy, helping, sharing…giving the gift of our joy and happiness to the world at large. People are always seen smiling and saying Merry Christmas or (cringe) Happy Holidays. But Christmas shouldn’t begin and end in December – it should saturate every part of our life all year round. The entire thing of God loving us first and giving His Son Jesus so that we can have eternal life and know Him needs to be demonstrated in our life at every minute. As God loved us we should go and do the same in every minute of every day.
Friday, December 9, 2011
Some 'LOVEly' quotes....
Love is not a possession but a growth. The heart is a lamp with just oil enough to burn for an hour, and if there be no oil to put in again its light will go out. God's grace is the oil that fills the lamp of love.
Henry Ward Beecher
I think sometimes it feels impossible not to let that light go out. We can only get burdened, overwhelmed, pushed away and hurt so many times before it has a lasting effect. How hard it is to keep smiling, keep going, keep loving. But we do, we push onward and upward, we persevere and we let God and others fill our lamp. May your light shine with love this holiday season.
Faith , like light, should always be simple and unbending; while love, like warmth, should beam forth on every side, and bend to every necessity of our brethren.
Martin Luther
Kind of a great picture don’t you think… love is a light. It shines out from us and lights the world around us. When we love, we live and when we love, we spread so much tenderness and affection and a sense of contentment that others can’t help but latch on to it. Have you ever noticed that when you are feeling good, emitting positive vibes and are truly content that most others around you feel the same? Have you ever noticed that when you are full of happiness and smiling, the world smiles back?
Let us always meet each other with smile, for the smile is the beginning of love.
Mother Teresa. . .
A smile really is the beginning of love. It starts there and spreads from head to toe and then emits forth, in a ray of light, in a powerful presence and it changes the world.
May you smile today, spread light everywhere you go and share your love with the world.
Thursday, December 8, 2011
Love is....
I’ve been reading this amazing book lately. It’s a worldwide best seller, written in almost 400 languages (more if you count the portions of it that have been translated) and has been around for hundreds of years. I’ve learned more about love from this book then any textbook, romance novel or self-help book could ever have taught me. I’ve been exposed to it for years but only recently have I been able to appreciate what the bible teaches us.
A few months ago I began reading a book called ‘True Love Begins with God’ that explored 1 Corinthians 13. There is likely no scripture on love more known than this passage and I decided to explore it’s message, do some research on it and reflect upon it.
1 Corinthians 13:1-3
If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. If I give all I possess to the poor and surrender my body to the flames, but have not love, I gain nothing.
My research of this scripture tells me that the Corinthians were fascinated with spiritual gifts, predominantly the gift of tongues or languages. Paul reminds them even the gift of tongues is meaningless without love. Without love, a person may speak with the gift of tongues, but it is as meaningless as a resounding gone or a clanging cymbal. It is nothing but empty noise. Prophecy, knowledge, and faith to do miracles are also irrelevant without love. The Corinthian Christians were missing the motive and the goal of the gifts and so Paul draws their attention back to love. He also tells them that a man with faith can move great mountains; but he will set them down right in the path of somebody else – or right on somebody else - if he doesn’t have love. It isn’t an issue of love versus gifts…giving away your possessions or even giving up all the talents you have. Paul is emphasizing the focus and goal of the gifts: love, not the gifts for their own sake.
So very true… you can speak all you want, say all you wish, talk the talk…but if you don’t have love, if you haven’t got comprehension of love then you aren’t walking the walk. You can have all the faith in the world, all the religion you want but if you don’t have love, you don’t have anything. You can give everything away that you own and dedicate your life to serving others, fighting the good fight, but if you heart does not know true unconditional love than you haven’t gained anything.
1 Corinthians 13:4–8a
Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails …
Love is patient. Some versions list this as Love is long-suffering and kind. Long-suffering is patiently enduring wrongs or difficulties. Love suffers long: Love will endure a long time. It is the heart shown in God, If God’s love is in us, we will be longsuffering to those who annoy us and hurt us. The ancient preacher John Chrysostem said this is the word used of the man who is wronged, and who easily has the power to take vengeance himself, but will not do it out of mercy and patience. Do you retaliate as soon as you have the chance?
Love is kind: When we have and show God’s love, it will be seen in simple acts of kindness. A perfect example of kindness is to see how children receive us. Children won’t receive and respond to unkind people!
Love does not envy: Envy is one of the least productive and most damaging of all sins. It accomplishes nothing, except to hurt. Love keeps its distance from envy, and does not resent it when someone else is blessed. I think that this is an area that many, including myself, struggle with and has been an area that I have been praying about a lot lately. It is hard when you are struggling to see those who are not. But then you have to look around you and realize that many places in the world there are so many who struggle more.
Love does not boast and is not proud: Love can work anonymously. It does not have to have the fame or the attention to do a good job, or to be satisfied with the result. Love gives because it loves to give, not out of the sense of praise it can have from showing itself off. Some of the people who work the hardest at love are the ones who are so very far from it. They do things that others might recognize as loving, and yet they do them in a way that appears showy, prideful…seeking praise. This isn’t love; it is pride looking for glory by the appearing to be love.
Love . . . is not rude. Where there is love, there will be kindness and good manners. Perhaps not in the stuffy, “look at me, I am so educated, cultured and chic” way of showing manners, but simply in the way people do not behave rudely.
Love . . . is not self-seeking: This is being like Jesus in a most basic way, being an others-centered person instead of a self-centered person.
“Love is never satisfied but in the welfare, comfort, and salvation of all. That man is no Christian who is solicitous for his own happiness alone; and cares not how the world goes, so that himself be comfortable.” (Clarke)
Love . . . is not easily angered: We all find it easy to be provoked, to become irritated with those who are just plain annoying. But it is a sin to be full of anger or quick to anger, and it isn’t loving. Moses was kept from the Promised Land because he became provoked at the people of Israel (Numbers 20:2-11).
Love . . . does not delight in evil: Literally, this means “love does not store up the memory of any wrong it has received.” Love will push the memories of past hurts from your mind and your heart instead of clinging to them. I found an account of one writer who tells of a tribe in Polynesia, where it was customary for each man to keep some reminders of his hatred for others. These reminders were suspended from the roofs of their huts to keep alive the memory of the wrongs, real or imagined. Most of us do the same.
Love . . . does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth: It simply wants the best for others, and refuses to taint the view of others. Instead, love rejoices in the truth. Love can always stand with and on truth, because love is pure and good like truth.
Love always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Often written as Bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.
“Love does not ask to have an easy life of it: self-love makes that her aim. Love denies herself, sacrifices herself, that she may win victories for God, and hers shall be no tinsel crown.” (Spurgeon).
He never promised it would be easy. Loves always protects/Bears all things. The word bears can also be translated to covers and this passage is reinforced with 1 Peter 4:8: And above all things have fervent love for one another, for “love will cover a multitude of sins.” You have to ensure that your love does ‘cover’ all things and not proclaim, spread the news, gossip etc. about the errors of others. Love doesn’t look like that.
Love always trusts or believes all things. When we love, we never believe a lie, but we also never believe evil unless the facts demand it. We choose to believe the best of others. “Love, as far as she can, believes in her fellows. I know some persons who habitually believe everything that is bad, but they are not the children of love. . . . I wish the chatterers would take a turn at exaggerating other people’s virtues, and go from house to house trumping up pretty stories of their acquaintances.” (Spurgeon)
Love always hopes or Love hopes all things: Love has a confidence in the future, not a pessimism. When hurt, it does not say, “It will be this way for ever, and even get worse.” It hopes for the best, and it hopes in God. Lessons for all…when life gets tough it doesn’t mean He doesn’t love us nor does it mean we are ‘stuck’ with this forever. It means that He will take care of us and that we will grow and learn from this.
Love always perseveres or endures all things: Most of us can bear all things, and believe all things, and hope all things, but only for a while! The greatness of true love is that it keeps on bearing, believing, and hoping. It doesn’t give up. It destroys enemies by turning them into friends.
Love never fails …
1 Corinthians 13:13
And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.
May this week of love and season of love find you full of the Paul describes.
A few months ago I began reading a book called ‘True Love Begins with God’ that explored 1 Corinthians 13. There is likely no scripture on love more known than this passage and I decided to explore it’s message, do some research on it and reflect upon it.
1 Corinthians 13:1-3
If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. If I give all I possess to the poor and surrender my body to the flames, but have not love, I gain nothing.
My research of this scripture tells me that the Corinthians were fascinated with spiritual gifts, predominantly the gift of tongues or languages. Paul reminds them even the gift of tongues is meaningless without love. Without love, a person may speak with the gift of tongues, but it is as meaningless as a resounding gone or a clanging cymbal. It is nothing but empty noise. Prophecy, knowledge, and faith to do miracles are also irrelevant without love. The Corinthian Christians were missing the motive and the goal of the gifts and so Paul draws their attention back to love. He also tells them that a man with faith can move great mountains; but he will set them down right in the path of somebody else – or right on somebody else - if he doesn’t have love. It isn’t an issue of love versus gifts…giving away your possessions or even giving up all the talents you have. Paul is emphasizing the focus and goal of the gifts: love, not the gifts for their own sake.
So very true… you can speak all you want, say all you wish, talk the talk…but if you don’t have love, if you haven’t got comprehension of love then you aren’t walking the walk. You can have all the faith in the world, all the religion you want but if you don’t have love, you don’t have anything. You can give everything away that you own and dedicate your life to serving others, fighting the good fight, but if you heart does not know true unconditional love than you haven’t gained anything.
1 Corinthians 13:4–8a
Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails …
Love is patient. Some versions list this as Love is long-suffering and kind. Long-suffering is patiently enduring wrongs or difficulties. Love suffers long: Love will endure a long time. It is the heart shown in God, If God’s love is in us, we will be longsuffering to those who annoy us and hurt us. The ancient preacher John Chrysostem said this is the word used of the man who is wronged, and who easily has the power to take vengeance himself, but will not do it out of mercy and patience. Do you retaliate as soon as you have the chance?
Love is kind: When we have and show God’s love, it will be seen in simple acts of kindness. A perfect example of kindness is to see how children receive us. Children won’t receive and respond to unkind people!
Love does not envy: Envy is one of the least productive and most damaging of all sins. It accomplishes nothing, except to hurt. Love keeps its distance from envy, and does not resent it when someone else is blessed. I think that this is an area that many, including myself, struggle with and has been an area that I have been praying about a lot lately. It is hard when you are struggling to see those who are not. But then you have to look around you and realize that many places in the world there are so many who struggle more.
Love does not boast and is not proud: Love can work anonymously. It does not have to have the fame or the attention to do a good job, or to be satisfied with the result. Love gives because it loves to give, not out of the sense of praise it can have from showing itself off. Some of the people who work the hardest at love are the ones who are so very far from it. They do things that others might recognize as loving, and yet they do them in a way that appears showy, prideful…seeking praise. This isn’t love; it is pride looking for glory by the appearing to be love.
Love . . . is not rude. Where there is love, there will be kindness and good manners. Perhaps not in the stuffy, “look at me, I am so educated, cultured and chic” way of showing manners, but simply in the way people do not behave rudely.
Love . . . is not self-seeking: This is being like Jesus in a most basic way, being an others-centered person instead of a self-centered person.
“Love is never satisfied but in the welfare, comfort, and salvation of all. That man is no Christian who is solicitous for his own happiness alone; and cares not how the world goes, so that himself be comfortable.” (Clarke)
Love . . . is not easily angered: We all find it easy to be provoked, to become irritated with those who are just plain annoying. But it is a sin to be full of anger or quick to anger, and it isn’t loving. Moses was kept from the Promised Land because he became provoked at the people of Israel (Numbers 20:2-11).
Love . . . does not delight in evil: Literally, this means “love does not store up the memory of any wrong it has received.” Love will push the memories of past hurts from your mind and your heart instead of clinging to them. I found an account of one writer who tells of a tribe in Polynesia, where it was customary for each man to keep some reminders of his hatred for others. These reminders were suspended from the roofs of their huts to keep alive the memory of the wrongs, real or imagined. Most of us do the same.
Love . . . does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth: It simply wants the best for others, and refuses to taint the view of others. Instead, love rejoices in the truth. Love can always stand with and on truth, because love is pure and good like truth.
Love always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Often written as Bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.
“Love does not ask to have an easy life of it: self-love makes that her aim. Love denies herself, sacrifices herself, that she may win victories for God, and hers shall be no tinsel crown.” (Spurgeon).
He never promised it would be easy. Loves always protects/Bears all things. The word bears can also be translated to covers and this passage is reinforced with 1 Peter 4:8: And above all things have fervent love for one another, for “love will cover a multitude of sins.” You have to ensure that your love does ‘cover’ all things and not proclaim, spread the news, gossip etc. about the errors of others. Love doesn’t look like that.
Love always trusts or believes all things. When we love, we never believe a lie, but we also never believe evil unless the facts demand it. We choose to believe the best of others. “Love, as far as she can, believes in her fellows. I know some persons who habitually believe everything that is bad, but they are not the children of love. . . . I wish the chatterers would take a turn at exaggerating other people’s virtues, and go from house to house trumping up pretty stories of their acquaintances.” (Spurgeon)
Love always hopes or Love hopes all things: Love has a confidence in the future, not a pessimism. When hurt, it does not say, “It will be this way for ever, and even get worse.” It hopes for the best, and it hopes in God. Lessons for all…when life gets tough it doesn’t mean He doesn’t love us nor does it mean we are ‘stuck’ with this forever. It means that He will take care of us and that we will grow and learn from this.
Love always perseveres or endures all things: Most of us can bear all things, and believe all things, and hope all things, but only for a while! The greatness of true love is that it keeps on bearing, believing, and hoping. It doesn’t give up. It destroys enemies by turning them into friends.
Love never fails …
1 Corinthians 13:13
And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.
May this week of love and season of love find you full of the Paul describes.
Wednesday, December 7, 2011
A Doctor's Love...on World TTTS Awareness Day
Today is the day set aside to make the world aware of Twin to Twin Transfusion Syndrome.. Click here for a link on what TTTS is and here for information on the awareness day. Although not preventable or 100% treatable, it can be caught in time to save lives. We were lucky…no wait… God intervened to ensure that ours was caught in time to save one of our boys. Sometimes that isn’t the case, sometimes it is just too late or too severe. But He loves us enough to help us, to take care of us. He held us in the palm of his loving hands during the 11 weeks that we lived with affects of TTTS because he loves us. He wrapped his loving arms around me as I cried tear after tear of sorrow in the many months after we lost Cole because He loves me. If we had lost both our boys, He would have wrapped me in those loving arms and held me up when I couldn’t hold myself up any longer because He loves me.
He loves all of us and gives us gifts and talents so that we may share them with the world, displaying this love in amazing ways. Today, on World TTTS Awareness Day, I decided to share this picture and quote because some of the greatest talents our loving God gives is to those medical professionals who are passionate about their work, who love their job.
A very small degree of hope is sufficient to cause the birth of love.
Stendhal
I thought this quote was so perfect for the picture above. For those of you who have never seen this picture it is One of the most amazing photographs that you’ll ever see . This picture of Samuel, a 21-week old baby boy, whose tiny hand reaches out of the womb and grabs the finger of the surgeon who was operating on him, as if to say, "Thanks doc, you did a wonderful job,” should be seen by the whole world.
It happened when Dr. Joseph P. Bruner, director of fetal diagnosis and treatment at Vanderbilt University Medical Center was performing a cutting edge procedure on a 21 week old fetus.
Bruner and Samuel’s parents hope the surgery will alleviate the effects of spina bifida, a disabling birth defect in one or two of every 1,000 babies born.
During the procedure, surgeons remove the uterus from the mother, drain the amniotic fluid, perform surgery on the tiny fetus, then put the uterus back inside the mother. The procedure took about an hour. There are no words to describe this incredible photo.
What an amazing story, what a huge display of love in this picture. This doctor, like our own Dr. Ryan, performed the most amazing surgery and changed this family’s life forever. And why? Because he loves his work, because he loves saving and changing lives.
And in return, this family, like my own, loves this doctor for his God given talent that saved their son, that gave them an earthly son to love. The feeling of love that this family will have towards this man will never stop. Grateful is not strong enough of a word… I’m not sure there is one but love comes as close as you can get.
I know because I have a love for the man that changed our lives and I am not alone in this. Approximately 7200 babies suffer from TTTS in the US each year. Thankfully more of those babies survive than die and everyone one of those families has a love for their doctor.
I also know that Samuel, this baby whose loving little hand embraced this talented doctor, will love their doctor too. His parents will tell his story and how him this picture because their hearts swell with love for him and for their doctor. He has grown up knowing that he loved this man before he ever took a breath and that he changed this man’s life forever with this amazing gesture of love.
Cameron is and will be well aware of the love we have for Dr. Ryan and Mt. Sinai. Cameron Cole Gregory and Cole Edward Ryan have been given lasting reminders of our love and gratitude for Dr. Greg Ryan. I am so grateful for the love he has for his job and for the loving talents that God bestowed on him.
He loves all of us and gives us gifts and talents so that we may share them with the world, displaying this love in amazing ways. Today, on World TTTS Awareness Day, I decided to share this picture and quote because some of the greatest talents our loving God gives is to those medical professionals who are passionate about their work, who love their job.
A very small degree of hope is sufficient to cause the birth of love.
Stendhal
I thought this quote was so perfect for the picture above. For those of you who have never seen this picture it is One of the most amazing photographs that you’ll ever see . This picture of Samuel, a 21-week old baby boy, whose tiny hand reaches out of the womb and grabs the finger of the surgeon who was operating on him, as if to say, "Thanks doc, you did a wonderful job,” should be seen by the whole world.
It happened when Dr. Joseph P. Bruner, director of fetal diagnosis and treatment at Vanderbilt University Medical Center was performing a cutting edge procedure on a 21 week old fetus.
Bruner and Samuel’s parents hope the surgery will alleviate the effects of spina bifida, a disabling birth defect in one or two of every 1,000 babies born.
During the procedure, surgeons remove the uterus from the mother, drain the amniotic fluid, perform surgery on the tiny fetus, then put the uterus back inside the mother. The procedure took about an hour. There are no words to describe this incredible photo.
What an amazing story, what a huge display of love in this picture. This doctor, like our own Dr. Ryan, performed the most amazing surgery and changed this family’s life forever. And why? Because he loves his work, because he loves saving and changing lives.
And in return, this family, like my own, loves this doctor for his God given talent that saved their son, that gave them an earthly son to love. The feeling of love that this family will have towards this man will never stop. Grateful is not strong enough of a word… I’m not sure there is one but love comes as close as you can get.
I know because I have a love for the man that changed our lives and I am not alone in this. Approximately 7200 babies suffer from TTTS in the US each year. Thankfully more of those babies survive than die and everyone one of those families has a love for their doctor.
I also know that Samuel, this baby whose loving little hand embraced this talented doctor, will love their doctor too. His parents will tell his story and how him this picture because their hearts swell with love for him and for their doctor. He has grown up knowing that he loved this man before he ever took a breath and that he changed this man’s life forever with this amazing gesture of love.
Cameron is and will be well aware of the love we have for Dr. Ryan and Mt. Sinai. Cameron Cole Gregory and Cole Edward Ryan have been given lasting reminders of our love and gratitude for Dr. Greg Ryan. I am so grateful for the love he has for his job and for the loving talents that God bestowed on him.
Tuesday, December 6, 2011
Love is life
Love is life. And if you miss love, you miss life.
Leo Buscaglia
I wonder how many people in the world haven’t figured this out…that in order to have life, in order to really enjoy and appreciate your life, in order to truly live then you need love.
I sometimes marvel at those people who work 12+ hour days 6 days a week or those who work for 10 and take 8 hours of work home with them. They spend their time busy with life but they miss out on time with people, time with love. There are many people who spend time with family and friends but are still missing out because they are so busy running, going to sports, dance, clubs, groups and even in religion or at church that they miss out on love. They don’t see the child who wants only to be with them, to have their attention and affection. They don’t see the friends and family that would be so very happy with just a few hours of uninterrupted time doing nothing but talking and laughing. They miss the smiles of others when they do something for someone else because they are so busy looking ahead to the next thing they need to do.
Life is love and love is life… the two go together. You can’t survive life without love.
I look at my own life and marvel and where I sought love and what I thought my life needed, the love it needed, the way that love needed to be expressed. I really had no clue about unconditional love. I felt like I didn’t measure up in so many ways and so I did what I could to find love…not to let love find me. I think I was attracted to people who I thought needed love like I did…and therefore would need me.
Needing does not equal love, needing does not make life. I did many foolish things while trying to find my life. I regret so many of them now but I also know that it was part of a journey too. I missed so much life because I was so caught up in always being ‘with’ someone, in seeking that perfect someone who would love me, need me. I couldn’t see that the love I sought was always there. He never stopped loving me and had I just realized that so many around me loved me as well, even if they weren’t always the opposite sex, even they weren’t loving me in a romantic relationship, I would have had so much better a life, better a love.
I now realize how much love it really takes to make life…. Not a lot and yet an enormous amount. It doesn’t take many people who love you to make your life, it doesn’t take huge gestures of love and it certainly doesn’t take sacrificing that risks your very being. It simply takes giving of yourself for the purpose of making another happy with no expectation of a return.
I don’t want to miss any more of my life by missing love. I have found the most amazing love in the Lord and from there, in so many other places. I am so grateful for the life I have, for the love I have and that has me.
Leo Buscaglia
I wonder how many people in the world haven’t figured this out…that in order to have life, in order to really enjoy and appreciate your life, in order to truly live then you need love.
I sometimes marvel at those people who work 12+ hour days 6 days a week or those who work for 10 and take 8 hours of work home with them. They spend their time busy with life but they miss out on time with people, time with love. There are many people who spend time with family and friends but are still missing out because they are so busy running, going to sports, dance, clubs, groups and even in religion or at church that they miss out on love. They don’t see the child who wants only to be with them, to have their attention and affection. They don’t see the friends and family that would be so very happy with just a few hours of uninterrupted time doing nothing but talking and laughing. They miss the smiles of others when they do something for someone else because they are so busy looking ahead to the next thing they need to do.
Life is love and love is life… the two go together. You can’t survive life without love.
I look at my own life and marvel and where I sought love and what I thought my life needed, the love it needed, the way that love needed to be expressed. I really had no clue about unconditional love. I felt like I didn’t measure up in so many ways and so I did what I could to find love…not to let love find me. I think I was attracted to people who I thought needed love like I did…and therefore would need me.
Needing does not equal love, needing does not make life. I did many foolish things while trying to find my life. I regret so many of them now but I also know that it was part of a journey too. I missed so much life because I was so caught up in always being ‘with’ someone, in seeking that perfect someone who would love me, need me. I couldn’t see that the love I sought was always there. He never stopped loving me and had I just realized that so many around me loved me as well, even if they weren’t always the opposite sex, even they weren’t loving me in a romantic relationship, I would have had so much better a life, better a love.
I now realize how much love it really takes to make life…. Not a lot and yet an enormous amount. It doesn’t take many people who love you to make your life, it doesn’t take huge gestures of love and it certainly doesn’t take sacrificing that risks your very being. It simply takes giving of yourself for the purpose of making another happy with no expectation of a return.
I don’t want to miss any more of my life by missing love. I have found the most amazing love in the Lord and from there, in so many other places. I am so grateful for the life I have, for the love I have and that has me.
Monday, December 5, 2011
Unconditional Love
A number of years ago I attended a church camp and learned about unconditional love. This scripture sat in my head and in my heart about it….
1st John 4 7-12
7 Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. 8 Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love. 9 This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. 10 This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. 11 Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. 12 No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us.
At the time I didn’t ‘get’ scripture like I do now…though even now I struggle to comprehend just how amazing the bible is, how amazing our God is. But no, at the time I didn’t quite ‘get it’. What I did get out of the lessons that went with that scripture was that true love has absolutely no conditions put on it…and that is all types of love for all types of people… spouses, children, family, friends etc. . But, what is unconditional love? We all want to feel loved. We think about it, hope for it, fantasize about it, go to great lengths to achieve it, and feel that our lives are incomplete without it. But do we really understand what it is? Do we really understand how God meant for us to love one another? And do we have any idea how our ideas of love get so messed up?
Unconditional love can be defined as a term that means to love someone regardless of one's actions or beliefs. It matters not who you are, what you do or don’t do for or to someone, it is not hinged on behaviour or morals, socio-economic status or where you live. It is just love…simple and pure.
Simple??? Well maybe not for so many, as unconditional love does not occur easily for many people and can be very delusional. Our misconceptions of unconditional love began in early in our lives, where we saw that when we did all the right things—when we were clean, quiet, obedient and otherwise “good”—people “loved” us. They smiled at us and spoke in gentle tones. But we also saw that when we were “bad,” all those signs of “love” instantly vanished. In short, we were taught by consistent experience that love was conditional, that we had to buy “love” from the people around us with our words and behavior.
So many people live on this kind of love. They shower others with attention and gifts in order to be loved. They almost outright tell children that they will love them ‘more’ if they can just behave. The damage this does is just enormous. If each time you give something to someone they tell you they love you how will you feel at the end of the day? Loved? No, because you’d know that you were loved only because you gave something tangible, that you were loved because you paid for it. We simply can’t feel satisfied by love we pay for. We can feel loved only when it is spontaneously, unconditionally given to us. The instant we do anything at all to win the approval or admiration of other people—with what we say, what we do, how we look—we are paying for the attention and affection we receive, and we can’t feel genuinely loved.
There is only one kind of love that can make us whole, complete us and give us the happiness we want and that is unconditional love. It is so different than the love that so many of us have known all of our lives. It is caring about the happiness of another person without any thought for where it will get us, what we will get from it. It is also unconditional love when others care about our happiness without any thought of what they might get out of it.
This is the kind of love God has for us in a sense. He does not stop loving us if we do things that displease him or even are against his teachings. There really isn’t anything we can do to stop God from loving us. We can sin but all we need to do is ask for His forgiveness and it is granted. And even those who don’t ask for it, those who never have a personal relationship with Christ, those who are never able to see God’s love for us…. Even all of those millions of people, God loves. He only asks that we love Him and through that we can truly and unconditionally love others.
1st John 4 7-12
7 Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. 8 Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love. 9 This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. 10 This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. 11 Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. 12 No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us.
At the time I didn’t ‘get’ scripture like I do now…though even now I struggle to comprehend just how amazing the bible is, how amazing our God is. But no, at the time I didn’t quite ‘get it’. What I did get out of the lessons that went with that scripture was that true love has absolutely no conditions put on it…and that is all types of love for all types of people… spouses, children, family, friends etc. . But, what is unconditional love? We all want to feel loved. We think about it, hope for it, fantasize about it, go to great lengths to achieve it, and feel that our lives are incomplete without it. But do we really understand what it is? Do we really understand how God meant for us to love one another? And do we have any idea how our ideas of love get so messed up?
Unconditional love can be defined as a term that means to love someone regardless of one's actions or beliefs. It matters not who you are, what you do or don’t do for or to someone, it is not hinged on behaviour or morals, socio-economic status or where you live. It is just love…simple and pure.
Simple??? Well maybe not for so many, as unconditional love does not occur easily for many people and can be very delusional. Our misconceptions of unconditional love began in early in our lives, where we saw that when we did all the right things—when we were clean, quiet, obedient and otherwise “good”—people “loved” us. They smiled at us and spoke in gentle tones. But we also saw that when we were “bad,” all those signs of “love” instantly vanished. In short, we were taught by consistent experience that love was conditional, that we had to buy “love” from the people around us with our words and behavior.
So many people live on this kind of love. They shower others with attention and gifts in order to be loved. They almost outright tell children that they will love them ‘more’ if they can just behave. The damage this does is just enormous. If each time you give something to someone they tell you they love you how will you feel at the end of the day? Loved? No, because you’d know that you were loved only because you gave something tangible, that you were loved because you paid for it. We simply can’t feel satisfied by love we pay for. We can feel loved only when it is spontaneously, unconditionally given to us. The instant we do anything at all to win the approval or admiration of other people—with what we say, what we do, how we look—we are paying for the attention and affection we receive, and we can’t feel genuinely loved.
There is only one kind of love that can make us whole, complete us and give us the happiness we want and that is unconditional love. It is so different than the love that so many of us have known all of our lives. It is caring about the happiness of another person without any thought for where it will get us, what we will get from it. It is also unconditional love when others care about our happiness without any thought of what they might get out of it.
This is the kind of love God has for us in a sense. He does not stop loving us if we do things that displease him or even are against his teachings. There really isn’t anything we can do to stop God from loving us. We can sin but all we need to do is ask for His forgiveness and it is granted. And even those who don’t ask for it, those who never have a personal relationship with Christ, those who are never able to see God’s love for us…. Even all of those millions of people, God loves. He only asks that we love Him and through that we can truly and unconditionally love others.
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