This is What it Means to be Held

Held by Natalie Grant

Who told us we'd be rescued
What has changed and
Why should we be saved from nightmares
We're asking why this happens to us
Who have died to live, it's unfair
This is what it means to be held
How it feels, when the sacred is torn from your life
And you survive
This is what it is to be loved and to know
That the promise was when everything fell
We'd be held

I have loved this song since the first time I heard it. I listened to it again today and was thinking about about how poignant is the line that says that this is how it feels when the sacred is torn from your live but you survive. It makes me think of having everything being swept off a cliff, but you remain, clinging to the edge, dangling. Something about that word "survive" in that song conveys how you feel when you have been through an emotional torrent and you have absolutely nothing left in you, except your life. Wow, do I know that feeling. And I am so glad that I am not still there. I praise God that I was held. He didn't cause the chaos in my life, but He caught me when I fell and held me. What a comfort and strength to know that the God of the universe is not too busy to hold us. That He is concerned about our problems and, like a daddy, is there to pick us up when we fall and hold us to Him. And how wonderful is it to know that we can stretch our arms out to Him, with tears streaming down our faces, and know that like a father will cradle his toddler, God will pick us up too.

Oh Deer!

My dad's whole life, he didn't believe there were any deer in Kansas. Not sure if urban sprawl is the reason that sightings seem to be more numerous than in times past, but I have had many opportunities to see deer not far from my neighborhood. The spot where I see them most is between 47th Street South and 63rd Street South and between K-15 and Hydraulic, for those of you in our area. Once I did see a couple on the other side of Hydraulic, just a few blocks from our old house. Once I saw a whole herd just off of 63rd Street.

This morning, we had a run-in with a deer, LITERALLY. Well, the deer nearly ran into US! Usually, it is the other way around--a car running into a deer, but in this case, the deer nearly ran into my car! I was driving down 47th Street, near the river, when I saw some lateral movement out of the corner of my eye. First impression was that a large dog was running across the street toward me, but when I turned my head, I was looking directly into the face of a doe! She was just a couple of feet away from me. She sort of stumbled, realizing that she was about to run headlong into me, and for a second, I thought she wasn't going to get stopped in time and my heart skipped a beat. But, she paused long enough for me to pass, then ran behind my car to the other side of the road and into the trees! Odd time to be seeing her too. Usually I have seen them sometime between dusk and early morning, but it was 9am and the sun was fully out and traffic was pretty heavy. At least she made it across safely!

Sweet Billy

My kids and I have a little tradition. When one of us has a loose eyelash, we blow it off our finger and make a wish. I am not sure where that came from. I don't remember doing that as a child myself, but I must have picked it up somewhere. The last several weeks, every time Billy has a loose eyelash, his only wish is, "me wish my mommy had a brand new car!" I thought that was so sweet for him to use all his wishes for me and not for himself. And so observant for him, at age 3, to understand that mommy NEEDS a car!