C
cwmatt
Guest
It was during the Lenten season when I thought of Footprints. "One night a man had a dream. He dreamed he was walking along the beach with the Lord. Across the sky flashed scenes from his life. For each scene, he noticed two sets of footprints in the sand; one belonging to him, and the other to the Lord. When the last scene of his life flashed before him, he looked back at the footprints in the sand. He noticed that many times along the path of his life there was only one set of footprints. He also noticed that it happened at the very lowest and saddest times in his life. This really bothered him and he questioned the Lord about it. “Lord, you said that once I decided to follow you, you’d walk with me all the way. But I have noticed that during the most troublesome times in my life, there is only one set of footprints. I don’t understand why when I needed you most you would leave me.” The Lord replied, “My precious, precious child, I love you and I would never leave you. During your times of trial and suffering, when you see only one set of footprints, it was then that I carried you.”
In her book Dear Heart Come Home, Joyce Rupp writes, “There is an Ethiopian Legend about a Shepherd boy, Alemayu, who had to spend the night on a bitterly cold mountain. He had only a very thin cloth to wear. To the amazement of the villagers, he returned alive and well. When they asked him how he survived, he replied: "The night was bitter. When all the sky was dark, I thought I would die. Then far, far off I saw a shepherd’s fire on another mountain. I kept my eyes on the red glow in the distance, and I dreamed of being warm. And that is how I had the strength to survive. Sam Keen opens his book Beginnings without End with a beautiful story about hope. Keen tells about a dream that changed his life. In the dream, a man walked into his room: “He was strong and beautiful, a seasoned man who had fought many battles in the dark jungles of the world.” This man came over, sat on the edge of Keen’s bed, and said to him: "I have learned one important thing in life-how to begin again. Hope encourages us towards New Beginnings.”
I think of my cousin and Aunt who suffered the loss of their husbands. I can understand the pain of loss they were feeling. It wasn’t easy for me to pick up the pieces and move on after giving birth to a stillborn baby boy who was full term. We may go through the struggle of pain and sorrow kicking and screaming but as time moves on and you experience the love that surrounds you-that reaches out to you through family and friends, you begin to accept what has happened. Love is what heals and we learn to live with our pain out of love for others. God understands our pain. It was in my cousin and my aunt’s time of pain and sorrow that I was given the awesome grace to see their loved ones coming to them through the wings of hope to give back what they themselves received through the Miracle of Love - The Gift of New Life. And the Lord said, “I am the resurrection. If anyone believes in me, even though he dies he will live, and whoever lives and believes in me will never die” (Jn. 11:25-26).
On the day of another uncle’s funeral, my aunt and I were visiting and as I looked out the window, I saw a blue jay sitting on top of the birdhouse. In an excited voice I said to my aunt, hey look, there’s Uncle Joe with wings looking in on us. There is a reason for hoping. In the words of Gregory Popcak, “Hope is confidence that God will never abandon us.” “Faith is seeing with your heart what you cannot see with you eyes. It is finding a caterpillar and believing that some day it will fly.”(Virginia Mueller)
In her book Dear Heart Come Home, Joyce Rupp writes, “There is an Ethiopian Legend about a Shepherd boy, Alemayu, who had to spend the night on a bitterly cold mountain. He had only a very thin cloth to wear. To the amazement of the villagers, he returned alive and well. When they asked him how he survived, he replied: "The night was bitter. When all the sky was dark, I thought I would die. Then far, far off I saw a shepherd’s fire on another mountain. I kept my eyes on the red glow in the distance, and I dreamed of being warm. And that is how I had the strength to survive. Sam Keen opens his book Beginnings without End with a beautiful story about hope. Keen tells about a dream that changed his life. In the dream, a man walked into his room: “He was strong and beautiful, a seasoned man who had fought many battles in the dark jungles of the world.” This man came over, sat on the edge of Keen’s bed, and said to him: "I have learned one important thing in life-how to begin again. Hope encourages us towards New Beginnings.”
I think of my cousin and Aunt who suffered the loss of their husbands. I can understand the pain of loss they were feeling. It wasn’t easy for me to pick up the pieces and move on after giving birth to a stillborn baby boy who was full term. We may go through the struggle of pain and sorrow kicking and screaming but as time moves on and you experience the love that surrounds you-that reaches out to you through family and friends, you begin to accept what has happened. Love is what heals and we learn to live with our pain out of love for others. God understands our pain. It was in my cousin and my aunt’s time of pain and sorrow that I was given the awesome grace to see their loved ones coming to them through the wings of hope to give back what they themselves received through the Miracle of Love - The Gift of New Life. And the Lord said, “I am the resurrection. If anyone believes in me, even though he dies he will live, and whoever lives and believes in me will never die” (Jn. 11:25-26).
On the day of another uncle’s funeral, my aunt and I were visiting and as I looked out the window, I saw a blue jay sitting on top of the birdhouse. In an excited voice I said to my aunt, hey look, there’s Uncle Joe with wings looking in on us. There is a reason for hoping. In the words of Gregory Popcak, “Hope is confidence that God will never abandon us.” “Faith is seeing with your heart what you cannot see with you eyes. It is finding a caterpillar and believing that some day it will fly.”(Virginia Mueller)