Robert Burns said it another way, "the best laid schemes of mice and men often go awry..." Wow, saying that my life testifies to that sentiment is a gross understatement! I kind of like the quote from the picture above better simply because it offers hope. You know I have spent many blog posts describing in detail my personal journey and struggles with plans not going the way they were meant to, and this blog post began that way until Candace yelled from the living room - "you need to blog about the lady downstairs." At first, I didn't want to but then the words came without my planning them...
Candace and I met our neighbor who lives in the apartment directly underneath ours, and we found out that she has an incredible but heart-wrenching story. She is a grandmother to a 3 year old little boy who has cancer - he has been given 2 to 5 years to live and is currently undergoing the strongest chemotherapy they can give him. The grandmother works nights to be the sole supporter of this little boy and his mother/her daughter. As we talked, the one thing that stayed with me was this incredible strength based on a firm faith that God would get her family through this. She was not bitter that her grandson was experiencing this but was trusting God to get them through on a day to day basis. Even now, I am in complete awe of this. I cannot imagine the pain, the emotional, physical, and spiritual rollercoaster she experiences on a daily basis. Her story is both so very inspiring and incredibly humbling. How many times have I asked why? How many times have I gotten upset because life was just going the way I had planned? When faced with possibly losing someone or someone hurting me, how many times did I back away instead of pouring more love into that person?
I think that was the part that cut to the very deepest, darkest corner of my heart. I have always been the first to walk away regardless of if that person left on their own accord. I think even with my precious grandmother I almost went into auto-pilot mode just to get through until I could find a place and a way to grieve on my own. I am learning that while I have been trying to avoid heartache, I should not have been because heartache and pain means that you have lived and that you have loved. Our neighbor is pouring love into her grandson continually and sacrificially knowing that sometime in the near future, before she is ready she most likely will say goodbye to him. What an authentic, beautiful love. This love is not what you find in Hollywood or in a novel, this love is only from one source - Jesus Christ. Oh that I would love like that. Her story knocked me on my backside, and to be completely honest, I hope it has the same effect on you.
I pray this post finds you well, and I pray that we (myself included) would know love in our lives and show love with our lives.
Much Love,
Colie
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