I am one for quotes of any kind. Inspirational, life, meaningful, biblical, you name it, I gravitate towards them! For those who have been to my humble abode will know full well that I have numerous quote plaques as well as biblical plaques throughout my house. We even put quotes directly on the wall of our nursery (which will have its own post when finished soon I promise)! I am always on the look out for a great quote and when I find one I save it in a file on my computer to be kept for future reference or inspiration. Last week I came across the quote from above and it hit me like a ton of bricks. 11 simple words strung together gave me a wake up call and put me back into reality.
When I first read the quote I then flipped over to facebook and saw on my newsfeed a posting of someone who was complaining about their new baby that is only a few months old not sleeping through the night and how they are exhausted. I'm not saying they have no place to complain and I feel for this individual yet at the same time that is all I want right now. Here they are in a way taking for granted something I am desperately praying for, something I desperately dream of in anguish. I want to be able to complain about a baby up all night and my pure exhaustion. I am doing everything I possibly can and have been for a year and a half to achieve that kind of exhaustion. I had been so close to it and it is not far from my mind that had I not miscarried almost a whole year ago I would be exhausted with my own 2 month old little one at this very moment instead of being exactly where I was a year ago. I am putting my mind, body, and soul literally into achieving that dream of being up at 3 a.m. rocking a little one through those endless nights.
I allowed myself my 15 minute pity party for one to cry and grieve what could have been and the journey since that has just seemed endless. After those 15 minutes which consisted of an ugly cry session I composed myself and carried on. Not too long later I received an email and it seemed that not only did I get hit with a ton of bricks by it, but the whole darn brick house fell on top of me! The email was in regards to one of my high school teachers (now a Dean of Students at the school) and the person in charge of the Honduras program that his wife has passed away after a short but ugly fight with lymphoma. My heart just broke for him, his family, and his wife. Here I was having my own pity party yet what do I truly have to complain about? I'm alive, healthy, and relatively happy and here someone just lost his soul mate after only 9 months of battling. I had the privilege of going on a summer trip to Honduras that his wife accompanied us on and saw what a beautiful person she truly was. My heart just aches and again a reality check came over me. Here I was taking granted my own health when someone else I'm sure was praying for a cure that never came beyond their eternal heavenly cure.
In the following days since, this quote has consumed my every thought. I have been more aware of other peoples challenges around me and around the world. Tonight there are people praying for food, clean water, a job to support them and their family, for a roof over their head, protection for their family. Tonight someone is praying for a cure while someone is praying to just be taken so they can be out of their earthly pain. Children are praying for a family to love them and people are praying for peace in their homeland. Someone somewhere is single and praying for the perfect spouse for them to finally show up while someone else is out their praying for the physical strength to continue through the loss of their beloved spouse. Someone is praying for financial help with bills while another is praying for their car that decided to break down on the side of the highway. Tonight someone is praying to save their marriage from divorce, while others are praying for their children to follow the right path. Someone is praying to get over an addiction and another is praying to rid their mental illness.
There are just so many countless things that I take for granted that I know others are praying for. It is a clear reality check to the gut. Hopefully this 11 word quote will also inspire you to not take for granted the simple things you have that others are simply praying for. Tonight I say extra prayers for others instead of myself in hopes they will receive relief from inflictions that are far greater than my own.
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