April 2014
A Simple Reflection
18 April 2014 @ 19:11
On May 1st, 1953, nearly sixty one years ago, my life on this planet began with my birth to a woman that I've never known. I've been told that I was born in a farmhouse in Upper Augusta Township here in north central Pennsylvania. My journey then picks up when I was five days old and placed in the arms of an incredible woman that I would know as mom. Mom raised me knowing that I had been loved by two mothers; one who had carried me for nine months and couldn't care for me yet loved me so much that she made sure I would be raised in a loving home. Mom demonstrated through her life what compassion looked like and set me on this journey that I truly believe God created me for. Lately I've been thinking about all the twists and turns in our lives and about how each of our lives would be so different if things hadn't happened just the way they did. Life as I know it would not have been. My life has been a journey of grace and God has shown me how joy can be found in the most unexpected places. If any one thing had changed in this journey I might never have known the love of my incredible wife, Debbie, or known the joy of having my two sons, Todd and Matthew and now daughters-in-law and a granddaughter. My head spins when I think of all the 'what if's?' I might never have come to appreciate this life as I have because of the gift I have been given in the friendships with so many incredible children and families which have been forged in the worst trials you can experience in this life as I have traveled the halls of different children's hospitals. I could have no greater treasures in this life than the ones that I have been given.
Until my own children were born, the love and relationships I found in this world were never about blood. Grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins were all the result of my adoption. In all of this I believe that God has given me a glimpse of how He created us to love; to love unconditionally and not simply because we are blood related, or of the same ethnic background or country of origin. We are simply to love because we are created in the image of a God who loves us like this; as we are not as we should be, for we will never be as we should be.
Why do I write all all this. I guess there's a part of me that hopes someone will know of the woman who gave me life and let her know how grateful I am that she allowed God to set this incredible string of circumstances in motion through her, and I pray that she has known God's peace in her own journey.
Until my own children were born, the love and relationships I found in this world were never about blood. Grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins were all the result of my adoption. In all of this I believe that God has given me a glimpse of how He created us to love; to love unconditionally and not simply because we are blood related, or of the same ethnic background or country of origin. We are simply to love because we are created in the image of a God who loves us like this; as we are not as we should be, for we will never be as we should be.
Why do I write all all this. I guess there's a part of me that hopes someone will know of the woman who gave me life and let her know how grateful I am that she allowed God to set this incredible string of circumstances in motion through her, and I pray that she has known God's peace in her own journey.