One of those moments...
You know, that moment chiseled out of time, when everything seems to be suspended... time seems to stands still. You are totally engulfed by something brilliant, something so captivating! Whether it be seeing something intensely beautiful or a sound that stirs from deep within and causes you to shudder. Your breath is taken, you gulp as if drowning... your eyes are fixed and your thoughts escape to oblivion. In that moment, you feel the sensation of peace, overwhelming comfort ...eternal hope.
These breaks from time come and go too quickly... If we are embedded and rooted in the mundane routine of life, we miss them all together. However, when we get caught up in these moments, something mystical happens. We change, our world changes.... the world as a whole may not seem to experience the metamorphosis.... but our, unique world changes.
I cherish and yearn for these “aha” moments. I often set out on a journey to position myself for one of these miraculous events. Yes, I believe in miracles.... When heaviness and anxiety cloud my mind, and worry and doubt have set themselves like landmines on my path, when my thoughts are consumed with “me”...when my questions all begin with “why?” I know that it is time to drop everything... and to embark on an adventurous trek to find purpose once again. These brief monumental encounters come in all shapes and sizes, they often evade us at times unexpected. (Those are the best, by the way).
I remember sound of the heartbeat of each of my children in the womb. That moment when the cold fetal monitor was placed on my stomach... and this unbelievable sound came forth.... the sound of life! Each one of their heartbeats was music to my ears; each one had a melody, a composition of sound, a distinctive rhythm. As I am writing this, I am actually leaning in, trying to feel the sensation of their heartbeats again, to recapture those unique moments in time.
When my first born came into the world, he was place in my arms and then immediately taken from me ... my heart actually lurched up into my throat. They cautiously ushered him away, put him in an incubator, and transported him to a nearby children’s hospital neonatal intensive care unit (NICU). It was a blur of events. My husband went with our baby; I stayed behind, alone in the hospital that night. All night I could hear the sounds of the babies in the maternity ward. It was one of the longest and despairing nights of my life. The next morning, the hospital released me so that I could be with Christopher. They had shaved his head; his small infant body was covered with tubes. I reached into the incubator and touched his tiny hand... he was innocently wonderful! They told us Christopher had a “slow” heart rate, he would need to be monitored for a few days. With this news, I leaned over and spoke to my son... I told him his heart was special. I had heard his heart beat in the womb. I knew it was strong, it had a unique rhythm. In that moment, I called out to his destiny to prove itself.
Five days later, Christopher was released from the hospital. Those five days were emotionally grueling days. I often wonder, and many have asked me, how I got through it? I really can’t say? There were unexplainable times, when I would be filled with strength. There were times at night that my body would just melt and be blanketed with comfort; I was given a glowing peace. I was engulfed with a mysterious tranquility in the midst of the trauma.
This was one of many defining moments in my life... it changed me forever. To this day, I proclaim to Christopher, “You have a unique rhythm”! The doctors, never could explain why Christopher’s rate was slow, or why it gradually improved.
““Aha” moments definitely shape our stories...Something very significant and historical takes place- it is a life changing experience.” - What’s Your Story?
You know, that moment chiseled out of time, when everything seems to be suspended... time seems to stands still. You are totally engulfed by something brilliant, something so captivating! Whether it be seeing something intensely beautiful or a sound that stirs from deep within and causes you to shudder. Your breath is taken, you gulp as if drowning... your eyes are fixed and your thoughts escape to oblivion. In that moment, you feel the sensation of peace, overwhelming comfort ...eternal hope.
These breaks from time come and go too quickly... If we are embedded and rooted in the mundane routine of life, we miss them all together. However, when we get caught up in these moments, something mystical happens. We change, our world changes.... the world as a whole may not seem to experience the metamorphosis.... but our, unique world changes.
I cherish and yearn for these “aha” moments. I often set out on a journey to position myself for one of these miraculous events. Yes, I believe in miracles.... When heaviness and anxiety cloud my mind, and worry and doubt have set themselves like landmines on my path, when my thoughts are consumed with “me”...when my questions all begin with “why?” I know that it is time to drop everything... and to embark on an adventurous trek to find purpose once again. These brief monumental encounters come in all shapes and sizes, they often evade us at times unexpected. (Those are the best, by the way).
I remember sound of the heartbeat of each of my children in the womb. That moment when the cold fetal monitor was placed on my stomach... and this unbelievable sound came forth.... the sound of life! Each one of their heartbeats was music to my ears; each one had a melody, a composition of sound, a distinctive rhythm. As I am writing this, I am actually leaning in, trying to feel the sensation of their heartbeats again, to recapture those unique moments in time.
When my first born came into the world, he was place in my arms and then immediately taken from me ... my heart actually lurched up into my throat. They cautiously ushered him away, put him in an incubator, and transported him to a nearby children’s hospital neonatal intensive care unit (NICU). It was a blur of events. My husband went with our baby; I stayed behind, alone in the hospital that night. All night I could hear the sounds of the babies in the maternity ward. It was one of the longest and despairing nights of my life. The next morning, the hospital released me so that I could be with Christopher. They had shaved his head; his small infant body was covered with tubes. I reached into the incubator and touched his tiny hand... he was innocently wonderful! They told us Christopher had a “slow” heart rate, he would need to be monitored for a few days. With this news, I leaned over and spoke to my son... I told him his heart was special. I had heard his heart beat in the womb. I knew it was strong, it had a unique rhythm. In that moment, I called out to his destiny to prove itself.
Five days later, Christopher was released from the hospital. Those five days were emotionally grueling days. I often wonder, and many have asked me, how I got through it? I really can’t say? There were unexplainable times, when I would be filled with strength. There were times at night that my body would just melt and be blanketed with comfort; I was given a glowing peace. I was engulfed with a mysterious tranquility in the midst of the trauma.
This was one of many defining moments in my life... it changed me forever. To this day, I proclaim to Christopher, “You have a unique rhythm”! The doctors, never could explain why Christopher’s rate was slow, or why it gradually improved.
““Aha” moments definitely shape our stories...Something very significant and historical takes place- it is a life changing experience.” - What’s Your Story?