He Gives and He Takes Away

I was no more than a dozen cars behind the collision. Two cars…four lanes…fatality to four lives. That quick, the breath of life was taken.

The baby came two weeks early. At barely five pounds and with growth having stopped, the C-section caused air to fill her lungs. That quick, the breath of life was granted.

So it was a little thing that ate at me…not really an argument, because you had to actually pass words back and forth to acquire that status. No, it was more that ugly head of offense again. I recognized it, but I didn’t want to deal with it. Acknowledge it, yes. Deal with it, no.

I was hurt beyond even my own belief. But the hurt gnawed at me and separated me from everything I believed in….God, hope, love, forgiveness, kindness, friendship. All of it had disappeared from me.

I was no more than a dozen cars behind the collision….
That could have been my life.

So I have been pondering differently today.

Jesus came to earth fully God, but fully man. Didn’t he love without love being returned?

He wept over a people that would not acknowledge him, and failed to understand him.

He died without the friendships he might have had, or the praise he was due.

He went unnoticed for the most part – except when he did something good, and right.

He considered others more than himself, and gave his life to prove it.

He is my breath of life.

He gives.

And He takes away.

He is praying for me, and for you…

And this I pray…that your love may abound still more and more in knowledge and all discernment, that you may approve the things that are excellent, that you may be sincere and without offense till the day of Christ, being filled with the fruits of righteousness which are by Jesus Christ, to the glory and praise of God. Philippians 1:9-11