Observations From A False Alarm

This article was posted in our bulletin back in 2011 about a month before the birth of Hannah. May you find the spiritual lessons contained within uplifting and beneficial.

          Thursday night Jackie was admitted to Central Baptist for a few hours as she experienced false labor. As I sat there in a chair next to her bed several things were going through my head. Even as my mind was racing I was able to recognize a spiritual application to most of the coherent thoughts (many were not very coherent at all!).  Perhaps you may find them beneficial.

     A consistent thought was that Hannah was not supposed to be here yet. Jackie and I are supposed to have another month to prepare. We’re supposed to have another month to hammer into the mind of the boys that a new addition is on the way who is not to be tackled, kicked, punched, pushed, or any of the other “physical” activities that little boys find so entertaining (now, in April 2014, that little girl gives just as good as she gets!).  We’re supposed to have another month of peaceful sleep before nightly feedings and changing’s come. We’re supposed to have a November baby, not another October one. We’re supposed to have more time! 

     James dealt with those who thought they had all the time in the world in James 4:13-15.  “Come now, you who say, ‘Today or tomorrow we will go into such and such a town and spend a year there and make a profit’—yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring.  What is your life?  For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes.  Instead you ought to say, ‘If the Lord wills, we will do this or that.’” James is specifically discussing the brevity of life yet the tenuousness of our plans is clearly found here as well. The plan is that Hannah will not join us apart from the womb until November. That’s what’s supposed to happen. Yet even the best laid plans are subject to a Source much higher than us. Truly the Lord’s will is the one that counts.

     Another thought that raced through my mind was that another soul was about to enter my care. What a weighty thought! Paul spoke to fathers in Ephesians 6:4 and said, “Fathers, do not provoke your children to anger, but bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord.” Hannah’s tiny soul will be (IS!) worth more than all the riches of this world combined (Matthew 16:26). As her father I have a God-given responsibility to do all that I can to bring her up in the discipline of the Lord and through my example and instruction help instill in her a heart of reverence and love for God. I tremble considering that task! What a responsibility we fathers have and I pray that each of us always takes it as seriously as we should.

     As if it were playing on a loop, “Everything is about to change again,” kept rolling through my mind. Less than six years ago I was unmarried and living in my hometown of Cincinnati. In that time I have married, moved to a different city, begun working with a different group of brethren, became a new homeowner, and am about to have my third child. For the past six years my life has been one of almost constant change. Significant changes have also taken place among my family members in that time. Who among us has not experienced at least some change in the past six years? 

     Having said all of this, there is one part of my life that hasn’t changed. The One controlling it has not and will not change. He said it Himself in Malachi 3:6.  “For I the Lord do not change…”. We’re reminded in James 1:17, “Every good and perfect gift is from above, coning down from the Father of lights with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change.” Do you not find that immensely comforting? “Change and decay in all around I see; O Thou who changest not, abide with me!” 
       A great deal goes through a parents mind when a little one is on the way. This is especially true when the little one comes, or appears to be coming, a bit sooner than expected. As always, regardless of the circumstance, spiritual lessons abound. I hope that you found the ones that went through my mind helpful!