At the same time this little one is growing healthy new cells, cancer cells are growing inside me. I don't want to be morbid, it's just a fact. Life goes on. Soon my treatments will begin. Treatments to destroy and kill the bad cells...the cancer. I know I'll soon begin to feel weaker. At the same time my body loses strength, my newest grandchild will be growing stronger preparing to enter the world. Living and dying...all part of the circle of life. God designed it that way.
Isn't it interesting? When you really stop and think about the miracle of life, how can you not believe in God? I remember being in elementary school back in the third or fourth grade. We all were assembled in the cafeteria to watch a filmstrip on birth. Back then, we could talk about God. Back then, we prayed before starting the day's work.The lights were turned down low and the filmstrip was started. Sitting near the back of the room, the projector emitted a warm, dust filled glow as the light shone on the screen. My classmates and I sat in hard molded plastic chairs, our scrawny little legs dangling. We could barely touch the floor. We were so young. The film began and we sat mesmerized as images of cells in petri dishes shown in brilliant black and white. We watched as they multiplied and divided. We learned the various stages of cell division. I don't remember them all now, but I remember words like mitosis, meiosis, chromosomes, DNA...scientific terms that signified things were changing.
Life. God given...God breathed. In the Bible, we're told that God is the giver of life. He is the Creator. He made all things. After God created the earth and everything that was in it, He created man. Adam. The first life. God breathed into the dust of the earth and instantly Adam came to be. In a millisecond, Adam was complete. All the cells in his body were knit together. Instantly. His heart was beating, his lungs were pumping fresh oxygen in and out. Blood was flowing through his veins and arteries. Muscles and sinew were attached to his perfectly formed bones. He was alive!!! It was a miracle. And such is life.
I wish I'd paid more attention to the filmstrip that day in school. I would have remembered the process of cell division. I would have understood a little more about the rate of multiplication but then again, maybe it's better that I don't remember all those details. What I do remember was amazing! The images on the screen went from tiny blobs of jelly like substance into images of a well formed baby in utero. The baby on the screen was even sucking its thumb while inside a liquid filled cocoon. The next images I remember seeing had us all glued to the edge of our seats...we watched intently as a tiny little human traveled through the birth canal and out into the brightly lit hospital room. Wails of terror filled the room as the baby let out the first cries of life.
I can almost hear the sound of the filmstrip flapping as it completed it's loop of winding. We silently filed out of the cafeteria and back into our prospective class rooms. I don't remember talking much that day after having witnessed something as spectacular as a baby's birth. I felt like I'd seen something secret and mysterious. In whispered conversations, my girlfriends and I wondered if it hurt to have a baby. We were extremely scared! But even in the midst of our fear, we knew we'd witnessed a miracle...the miracle of life.
My daughter's belly is growing. I won't get to see it change over the next few months unless she sends photos through Instagram or text messages, but I'll know that change is taking place. Life goes on. While good changes are taking place in her life, change will be taking place in my life, too. I will remember as I lie under the machine that delivers beams of radiation that my cells are being targeted and destroyed...but for a good reason...to give me life. The same thing will be true for chemotherapy, should I have to go through that process...cells will be killed in order to give life. Living and dying...they go hand in hand. It's all a huge circle, all part of God's plan. Life is good and life goes on.
Sometimes life is challenging and difficult. Sometimes it's peaceful, pleasant, and easy. Death is a part of life and that's the way it was meant to be. No one knows what tomorrow brings so today, let's focus on life...the amazing, marvelous, gift of life. Thank you, God, for choosing to bless us. Thank you for your wonderful power and might! Thank you for the love you've shown us by allowing us to experience life as we watch newborn babies come into the world and as we say goodbye to loved ones as they depart. We know this is your plan and we are thankful...thankful indeed that life goes on.
