Life

I'm thinking about life today. My daughter, Elizabeth Kate, turned one yesterday. She's my fourth. Another milestone birthday come and gone. How does it happen? How does a tiny newborn grow into a tooth-showing, giggly, crawling one year old? Somehow it feels like the time flies even faster with each kid. 

I remember waking up on the morning of my eldest's first birthday. All of the sudden my baby didn't feel like a baby anymore and I tried to hold back tears. But then I remind myself that though that first year seems to go by so fast, there were long nights, those times when I'd hear a little cry in the dead of night - time to feed again. Yes, we did have long stretches of exhaustion mingled with joy so real it hurt - giggles and tickles and laughter and smiles. 

On my daughter's birthday yesterday I couldn't help but think about how this day of celebration would be starkly different had she not made it to one year. How would our day have been spent instead? There would have been no candles or cupcakes, no pizza party or friends to celebrate with, no presents or decorations, no Facebook posts reminding the world our little girl had turned one. Instead I'd imagine there would have been solemnity in our household, prayers whispered, perhaps memories shared, tears cried for sure, arms holding each other, grieving over what wouldn't been, should've been a day of fun and joy. 

Depending on when we had lost her, we would have looked back on the memories and rejoiced in what we knew of her until that point. Perhaps she could have even been lost to us before her physical birth. But she wasn't. And we celebrate one. Will we get to celebrate two? And three? How many more years will the Lord lend her to us? Psalm 139:16 says, "Your eyes saw my unformed substance; in your book were written, every one of them, the days that were formed for me, when as yet there was none of them." 

My sister-in-law took some one year pictures with her professional camera after the birthday party yesterday. As she captured a pose of me holding Elizabeth, I couldn't help but think, wow, fast forward a few years and this is me taking a picture next to my daughter at her high school graduation or college graduation or her wedding. How is that possible? And I want to be so fully present in each of those years - soaking up the memories and the fun and the laughter and the LIFE. But then I think, is that all? Is that all we're meant to experience - the best life here that we can? We're told to soak in all the moments...don't miss them because they're gone like the morning dew. 

Yes, but there's more. Elizabeth's real life hasn't even begun yet. The life Jesus offers her is the only one that will satisfy, that will last. And I pray with all my heart she responds to it. Life free from the bondage of sin and from enslavement in the devil's schemes. Life abundant. Life eternal. 

Elizabeth's first birthday happened to land this year on Good Friday, a day we remember and reflect on the death of our Savior, Jesus Christ. The day we celebrated Elizabeth's life, we also remember His death to bring her life. We celebrated her wholeness while we think of His brokenness for her, for you, for me. 

Jesus, You are our eternal hope. Thank You for going to the grave, defeating death, to bring us life. Because You live, we also will live (John 14:19).