Hopes and fears

Last evening our first grandson took his wife to the hospital for the birth of their second child. I prayed for them whenever I was awake through the night. Now we're eager to get the call announcing the arrival of our second great grandchild. That's a big hope!

I read through a new magazine about cancer last night, after washing and drying the last load of linens from our wonderful weekend guests. I didn't discover any new miracle cures, but I did see many reminders that my kind of cancer is medically incurable. I dreamed that it had spread to my bones (I suppose I was simply lying wrong on my arm and it got a little sore). Where is the sweet spot between denial, realism, and ungodly fear?

Sunday morning I spoke with the daughter-in-law of a woman who is in treatment with the same oncologist I go to, and we have often seen her and members of her family in the chemo room. Her cancer is almost identical to mine, and her surgery happened at about the same time as mine. We could tell she was weakening week by week. Now they've called in the Palliative Care service. I'm sorry for her. And so thankful that I continue to feel so well and strong.

I want to share this poem that I found Sunday evening at the 24-7 Prayer Space:

The God
Who watches worlds
Sees my heart.

This careful Calculator
Counting countless millions
Counts me in.

This Artist
Whose canvas outstretches
Eternity at both ends;
Whose palette out-colors planets
Paints my portrait.

This Lover,
Who drems in universes,
Dreams of me.

This Creator
Whose breadth of vision spans time
And spawns a cosmos--
Whose woven tapestry of purpose,
More compound than chaos,
Eclipsing complexity,
Rolls out like a highway through history;
Whose heartbeat deafens supernovas;
This Father
Knows me.

This Playwright,
Playing with the deaths and entrances of stars,
Scripting the end from the beginning,
Knowing the purpose of the play,
Watches my feeble audition
And writes
Me
In.

The "purpose of the play." Isn't that encouraging!

I'm so grateful for your prayers.

Carol