Good morning…
Can you imagine my joy seeing my mom’s joy as I received the photo above? A fun moment captured on the front porch of their villa and texted to me by my dad last week, my animated mother is pictured reading a book with her first great grandson and my sister.
My 85-year-old mom has been in recovery mode since March of 2022. Her fall and broken femur. Her stroke and sepsis. Her stint in the ICU and miraculously coming back to the sound of my father’s voice. Her second fall and another broken femur. More recently, difficulty eating, weight loss, and a hospital stay. The morning of our son’s wedding weekend last month, she had surgery to remove a blockage in her intestine and continues to adjust to daily life with her colostomy bag. Again and again and again, my mom has worked hard, regained strength, and happily returned home to the independent living villa in the loving care of my 86-year-old dad.
For the joy set before her, my mom has endured so much. As our blog post from last week reminds: “Joy is the oxygen for doing hard things.”
To celebrate my mom’s joy-filled Spirit, last Christmas I gave her a book entitled I Knew You Could, a sequel to the Little Engine Who Could. With her first great grandchild then due in April, I had hoped my mom might read this book to many great grandchildren to come. In this happy photo, I can almost hear her calming voice doing just that.
Harness the joy to do hard things? I knew she could!
Since, breath by breath, we are each given the oxygen to do hard things… let us run the race that we have to run with patience, our eyes fixed on Jesus the source and the goal of our faith. For he himself endured a cross and thought nothing of its shame because of the joy he knew would follow his suffering; and he is now seated at the right hand of God’s throne. Think constantly of him enduring… and you will not lose your purpose or your courage (Hebrews 12:1b-3, PHILLIPS).
Whatever hard things you might face today, with joy keep your purpose and your courage.
I know you can!
…Sue…
