This.
I have seen the signs of spring.
It's the 27th of August, and though the day was Tuesday that world-rocking week in 2013, we're in the week. I remember waking up that morning with tears in my eyes and choking out a quiet, "Lord-- please don't let this be the hardest season of my life..." Two days later, we got the news.
Somehow I haven't made time to sit down and write all of the overflowing joy that bubbles and bursts within me since Moriah's incredible birth! Suffice to say I've had a bit going on with children from newborn to 14 years old! Perhaps I'll allow the incredibly (over?-)abundant onslaught of photos on Facebook to do the speaking for me.
She is this.
She is a sign of spring.
 |
| Photo credit: The Amazing Christine Cliatt |
I've listened to songs about the Lord crowning us with beauty instead of ashes. My Tyler sang one of them into my ear as he helped dry my hair while laboring to birth Isaac's body into this world (Beautiful Things by Michael Gungor). I've reflected on Isaiah 61:1-3. I'd sensed all along that God would give us another child- "beauty out of the ashes." But I've had this knowing that Moriah would never replace the mark Isaac left. At the same time, I've pondered the idea that she is beauty out of the ashes while Isaac isn't here with us. Without Isaac, there likely wouldn't have been Moriah (Steve wanted 2 kids, I wanted 4, and we've had 5 now!).
Anyway, I was out running the other day, and I had a little, "Remember this, Heather?" moment with God as I looped Steven Curtis Chapman's song, Beauty Will Rise. I read Steven's wife's book, Choosing to See sometime in the year preceding Isaac's stillbirth. That in itself was a grace-gift to have read the story of their daughter Maria going to be with Jesus through a tragic auto accident. Jesus met Mary Beth so intimately through her journey of grief, and her story prepared me for a similar road I would walk. Anyway, as I listened to that song on my run, this one line jumped out at me. "I have seen the signs of spring." Yes! This. Of course. Moriah is a sign of spring! She is a piece of the beauty rising, but this is the amazing thing. She's just the beginning-- just a sign of the ultimate Spring!!!!!!!! The Kingdom of God is both "now" and "not yet." She is an enormous God-gift that is a fulfillment of my heart's longing and a restoration of my joy and my youth (Psalm 103:5). This is in the here and now. But one day, beauty rising will be taken to an entirely new level, because all that is good and right and true on this side of heaven is a foreshadowing of what is coming when all things are made new. Makes me giddy just thinking about that "Spring" day! I can't wait to hug Isaac and dance at the feet of the One who makes all things new!
"He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away!!!!!!!!!" (Rev. 21:4)
 |
| Laughing on her brother Isaac's quilt made by the beautiful Brenda Lee |
 |
| Laying on HER quilt made by beautiful Brenda Lee |
All photos are compliments of Christine Cliatt. Thank you, Christine!!!
