A matter of perspective

Life is full of matters of perspective -- and if our sense of perspective gets distorted everything gets out of balance.

All the rooms in the hospital are doubles -- there just are not enough beds to meet the needs of all the kids in the Valley! (The new hospital will have ALL private rooms...that can't happen soon enough in my opinion, but I hope to never need one of them!) So, our side of the double room looked so small when Benjamin was first rolled in. Basically, we had room for his bed and a little chair beside him. No walking space at all. I wasn't sure how the rest of the family was going to visit.

So, you'll imagine my relief when the nurse came in and told us they were going to keep the other side empty for us. And even rolled the bed that was in there out and brought in a small sofa. We had room for the kids to visit their brother (very important as they were so worried!)!

We enjoyed that luxury on Saturday and Sunday morning....before the crisis hit and our beautiful boy was rushed down the hall to the intensive care unit. Now, my perspective was completely different and I could not even enjoy the large room with the sleeping sofa in the PICU because I knew that all that space was necessary for the team of people to get around Benjamin at a moment's notice in the event of another crisis. Suddenly, the smaller space seemed so much more desired.

After one utterly sleepless night in the PICU, and one where we both got a decent amount of rest, Benjamin was moved back to the regular rooms...and back to a double -- without the special treatment status of the whole thing to ourselves. Now, the only privacy we had was the curtain surrounding Benjamin's bed and my sleep chair. But I was thankful...that little space meant they were not expecting to need a lot of people around him. Praise the Lord.

Our perspective was further adjusted yesterday when we arrived home. I am so glad to see all my kids. So glad to be in our home. So glad to see my boy interact with his siblings.

But Mason thought Benjamin would be back to normal -- happy to see him and ready to talk and play. His perspective had to be altered -- thankfully today Mason seems to be enjoying just having him home.

And then Wade just called and asked how Benjamin was doing today...when I said, "Great!" he questioned me, "really?" And I had to explain that compared to yesterday when he was in so much pain, he IS great...and compared to Sunday, when he scared us all to death, he is absolutely FANTASTIC! I'll take it!

The bottom line -- life is going to constantly throw us curves, scares and even gifts that change our perspective of our life. But by keeping Jesus as our constant -- our measuring stick, the rod against we hold up all crises and blessings, we can discern what is true and certain!

Hebrews 12:2a reminds us "Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith..."

Only then can we see all life's blessings clearly!

And speaking of blessings...it doesn't take much to discern this is one...my boy enjoying his baby sister AT HOME!!