This Journey Called Life

We are not human beings on a spiritual journey. We are spiritual beings on a human journey. ~ Stephen Covey

John Michael Talbot's gentle voice and his words so speak to my questioning heart...Father, I Put My Life Into Your Hands....

These days seem to be full of .... so many different emotions, celebrations, uncertainties....

One, my mother-in-law, who lives within a stone's throw, is losing her battle with cancer. She has lived a good life, and she is ready to leave this earth...Yet, those who love, are seldom ready to say good-bye.

At the same time, I am anxiously awaiting the birth of Daughter #3's first child. Talking with her this evening, she has begun to thin, so it will only be a few weeks before we get to meet this new little person.

As we await both the death and the new life of ones we love, life goes on.


Tonight, I listened to the thunder, I watched the dark clouds pass us by, and I said a prayer for much needed rain to come on our acres of corn and beans.

Tonight, Nancy and I baked and cooked in preparation for the celebration of Payton's 5th Birthday!

Tonight, I read an email from my brother talking about the 7 y.o. grandson of a friend who lies in a hospital following a freak accident. He shared that his wife will be moving her mother into a nursing home on Monday. He talked of crops drying up in the field...

Yesterday, Today, and Tonight, I have played and been entertained by Evan, Payton, and Cooper.

Honestly, I don't know what I am to be feeling as I sit within this time...this time of death, celebration, birth....and everything in between.

But, wait. I talk of living from an Attitude of Gratitude...

Lord, I am grateful for the opportunity to be alive with these people at this time, sharing the struggles and the joys.

I am grateful you created me to experience both tears of joy and tears of sorrow! For without them, I would not be fully alive!

I am grateful for the beauty of this earth, because in drought or flood...this earth is magnificent!

I am grateful for the life of Elmerree, for the gift of Payton in my life, and for the wonder of the upcoming birth of a new child, a new beginning...in just a few short weeks!

I am grateful for my family (parents, husband, brothers, daughters, cousins...) and that we are bound together in such a way that we are free to share the grief that rips through our hearts and souls as well as celebrate the joys that bring wonderful laughter.

I am so grateful to be a unique, gifted, and much loved child of God!

As I sit and write, I am reminded of the passage from Romans 8:1-4 that says:

Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit who gives life has set you free from the law of sin and death. For what the law was powerless to do because it was weakened by the flesh, God did by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh to be a sin offering. And so he condemned sin in the flesh, in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fully met in us, who do not live according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.

Hallelujah and Amen!

Thanks for listening. It helps to write, it puts everything in perspective.

God, you are greater and stronger than any of the things we carry or come across on our journey of life! You defeated death, so we need not fear ever being separated from you! As I listen to rolling thunder in the distance, as I listen to news from Washington, as I await a telephone call from Elmerree and from Laura, as I prepare to celebrate Payton's birthday, as I hold my brother and all his concerns in prayer....through your Spirit, may I live in gratitude, knowing you are in control! AMEN.

Many Blessings ~ Sandi