First – Dad, Happy Birthday. I am SO grateful you’re MY Dad. And I love you so much.
Next, a quote about endurance because I’m emotionally spent. It’s been a heavy and exhausting and trying week and guys, it’s only Tuesday. I’m certain you can relate on some level. For sure relating. Probably working. Maybe spouse-ing. Possibly parenting. Likely battling. Most certainly living.
“Not in achievement but in endurance of the human soul, does it show its divine grandeur and its alliance with the infinite.”
Edwin Hubbel Chapin
Cancer is no doubt a teacher of endurance. . .So, only as I know to do, I will take one more step. I think that is the point of endurance – to simply trust that it’s in the one-more-step. Persevere. Try. Grace. Progress. Process. Choose. Rise. Fall. Rise again. One.More.Step.
This Day in 2018:
23:5
I came across something on social media yesterday which caused me to look deeper into the concept being shared: A shepherd anointing the heads of his sheep with oil… In the famous Psalm 23, verse 5 says “You anoint my head with oil…” It’s so easy for me to read the Bible and think I understand what it’s saying to me (or I read “over” it because it’s waaaaay over my head) and then, well, I learn something more…something deeper….even if it is from facebook.
Sheep need shepherding. Sheep need their shepherd to keep them safe. Apparently, there are literal reasons that a shepherd anoints the heads of his sheep with oil. Nasty little flies burrow into a sheep’s nostrils, eyes or ears and lay eggs that then turn into worms that make their way into the sheep’s brain causing torment that drives the sheep to bang their heads on rocks, certainly leaving permanent damage to the sheep’s wellness and can even lead to the sheep’s death. By anointing the sheep’s head with oil, the shepherd protects the sheep’s brain from the evil torment of little worms that make the sheep go crazy because the oil makes it impossible for the flies to burrow.
Fascinating. And how perfectly designed. And how beautifully written in the Psalm.
I have definitely experienced mental torment that can only come from the devil himself, burrowing into my brain, causing doubts and fears and insecurities…throughout this cancer journey, for sure, but also in other areas of my life. And I know I’m not the only one.
This loving action of the shepherd to protect his sheep is beautiful. And it is a very simple thing to be mindful of to pray for. Please Lord, anoint my head with oil.
This Day in 2019:
HBD DAD
Happy Birthday, Dad. I’m so grateful God put you in Mom’s and my life. I’m so grateful you love me as your own. I’m so grateful you are an example of a godly, faithful and loyal man so that I could hold my own standards so high. I’m so grateful you love Mom the way you do. I’m so grateful you show us grace and unconditional love and respect and selflessness.
I’m so grateful I get to call you Dad.
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