Trinity UCC Lenten Devotional for Tuesday, March 17, 2015 "Struggle" by Joe Kirk

Tuesday, March 17^th:

By Joe Kirk

SCRIPTURE:

James 1:2-4 

Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.

REFLECTION:

I love all of my children with every part of my being, and yet, I am certain that most parents will admit that there are times when we struggle to raise them.  Whether it be that age when they question everything or that age when they challenge everything, the struggles happen.  As my mother would often say “one or both of us are getting stronger because of the struggles.” 

I have been blessed with seven children so I know that there are times I feel pretty strong, and yet I am stilled tested and struggle. This May our twin boys will be 10 years old and that is hard to believe. They were born at 28 weeks and were very very small when they were born.  Xavier was 2 lbs. 5 oz. when he was born and his brother, Gabriel, was just 1lb 2 oz. at birth. Gabriel has been diagnosed with a form of autism.  So from birth, we have had to deal with the struggle of their sheer survival and more than19 weeks in the NICU of the Cleveland Clinic along with many extended hospital stays and many visits to the ER. They are champs in ways that I cannot even express.  Living with them, and all of my children, often times gets my creative writing juices going and this poem is about one particular wintery morning when I had to get the twins ready for school because their Mom had left the house early to go teach in Cleveland. 

On this particular morning my OCD personality was completely on and their ability to delay everything I wanted to do was also on, and when you added in the first snow fall of the winter…struggle definitely made an appearance! 

 

 

The First Snow Fall and School days with Papa

 

The first snow fall of the winter

Such a joy to see ….

It brightens up the dreary streets

And makes children happy …

 

I am preparing two boys for school

And they are too excited

My patience is truly being tested

Mom’s help is needed ….

 

They are clearly in no rush to get moving

No matter what I say ….

I hear the talk of snowmen and castles

I say get moving, no time today ….

 

One grabs my face and says, be excited

It’s snowing outside ….

I say, get your coat on boy, now

And he goes and hides ….

 

I pause for a moment, to realize the joy

That they are truly feeling ….

They step in every snowy pile they see

Even though my patience is reeling ….

 

The first snow fall can be such a joy at times

This is not one of them, I think ….

As we rush to get to school on this wintery day

I embrace their joy, as I give them a wink ….

 

PRAYER:

A prayer to all of the parents of the world as we handle the struggles of life and the rising of children.  May we all continue to become stronger through the struggles and love the children we have been blessed with.  We especially pray for all of the special needs children of the world and their families.  They possess a strength that may not always be seen but is ‘so there’. Amen