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| Two days after surgery |
The gift of life.
Can you think of a more precious gift?
As we enter this Christmas season, that fact just keeps
resonating within me.
The gift of life changes everything.
Today marks one year since the transplant. Those days right after surgery have now begun
to run together in my mind, but as we enter the holiday season, I have found
myself at times completely overwhelmed with thankfulness because everything has changed this Christmas at our house.
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| Welcoming Nana home |
My mom was released from the hospital on December 5th (
48 hours
after surgery). Most
people don’t know or realize that the following day December 6th was
her birthday. She spent it recovering from giving the gift of life to my husband.
And because of that our life has been changed.
We ‘got our Christmas on’ early around here this year and
most of my Christmas shopping is done. The gifts are wrapped and waiting to be received
mostly by two little girls who simply cannot resist inspecting them each night
to try to guess what each package holds for them.
As I watch them pick each one up, I know what it contains
for them. I have chosen it, and bought
it with them in mind. I know it’s
something that will bring them joy, but I wonder about some of the gifts
waiting for them.
Will they understand what it is?
Will they want it?
Will they receive it?
Will
they be disappointed?
A gift doesn’t really serve it’s purpose unless it’s
received.
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| Going Home! |
As my mom recovered, we waited to see how her gift would be
received. One week later we got our
answer. It seems, Ed’s body received the kidney so well that he was released from
the hospital earlier than expected. I can still remember the surprised look on
some of the nurses faces as they saw him being wheeled out of the hospital
knowing that he was only one week out from surgery.
They sent us home with meds that he was supposed to take for
the rest of his life. Mostly anti rejection
meds and other pills that treat the side effects caused by taking those. We were told before surgery to expect at least 60 pills a day, but it would vary depending on how well his body received
the new kidney. Most of the after
surgery recovery has to do with getting all these meds regulated in the right
combination and dosage.
We came home
with a pill box of 26 pills a day.
From
what I understand that is pretty much unheard of, but he was receiving the
kidney so well that they felt safe with that number. Today he has graduated down to 11 pills a day-
which includes only one anti rejection pill. The doctors that treat him have
never had a transplant patient that takes this little medication.
Mom’s gift
has been received well.
When Jesus came to earth as a baby, He came to an earth that
he had created. He came to a people that existed because he had created
them.
He came to bring them the gift of life.
A gift that he had chosen and
bought with them in mind. A gift that
would bring us joy. But it is up to us whether or not we receive this gift.
Do
we really understand what receiving this gift of life means?
Do we even want it?
Have you ever picked up this gift and
inspected it wondering what it would mean to you only to lay it back down again
unopened?
Maybe this Christmas season it’s time to pick it back up again.
Go ahead... rip back that paper a little bit....take a peek at what’s inside.
I promise you won’t be disappointed....
because when
you receive a gift of life it changes everything.
"Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh
down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of
turning." James 1:17
"The
true light, which enlightens everyone, was coming into the world.
He was in the world, and the world was made through him, yet the world did not know him. He came to his own, and his own people did not receive him.
But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God" John 1:9-12
He was in the world, and the world was made through him, yet the world did not know him. He came to his own, and his own people did not receive him.
But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God" John 1:9-12
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| Christmas 2012 |
"Thanks
be unto God for his unspeakable gift" II Cor. 9:15
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