The Gift of Bad News

This week, I received the call nobody wants.

Problem … puzzlement … CT scans needed ASAP … odd mass

Truthfully, I would have felt better about the phone call if the problem were with my health. I am no stranger to return visits and further tests. But the moment I knew it involved the health of my son, I felt … terrified.

This is my precious boy. We worked so hard to get him home. Surely this isn’t happening.

For I know the plans I have for you, declares the LORD, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope (Jeremiah 29:11 ESV).

In truth, I don’t know what tomorrow holds. I don’t know what next week holds or the week after. Tomorrow we will go back to the children’s hospital for more tests. Maybe (hopefully!) this will all wind up something we can handle with ease. In a perfect world, the mass will be a misunderstanding. In a perfect world, my son’s chewable multi-vitamins (which he loves, by the way) will be all the medical boost he needs to keep growing healthy and strong.

I am reminded of the quote I wrote in my Bible as a child–“I do not know what my future holds, but I know Who holds my future.”

This morning I woke up thinking about the importance of appreciating every day, every moment, every opportunity. In reality, do I ever know what tomorrow holds? Can I ever say with certainty that life will go as planned next week or the week after? We are guaranteed nothing in terms of days on this earth. So what do I have to be concerned about today that I don’t have to be concerned about any other day of any other week?

Perhaps, when I look at it that way, phone calls like the one I got this week are really gifts in disguise. They remind me that life is a vapor. And regardless of how long the vapor lasts, the vapor is still a vapor.

This is the day which the LORD hath made; [I] will rejoice and be glad in it (Psalm 118:24 ESV).

Photo by by Callooh Callay

Trisha

Publicly, Trisha is a well-established editor for a mammoth corporation. Privately, however, she sorts and stacks, tosses and tallies, pitches and plunders. She devotes serious time and energy to a hobby that would make goddesses like Martha Stewart and Julie Morgenstern blush. She is a home manager. That, and she loves to write. She just published her first book--Trust, Hope, Pray.

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