So, this all happened a long time ago, and you'll have to excuse me if a few of the details have faded. But recently a friend of mine sent me this photo from his hotel room window in Tokyo...
Anyway, I'm not sure why, except for the fact that he is now in the country that figures a little bit in this story, but it triggered the memory of Noel. She was a tiny precious little girl, born to the Youth Minister and his wife at my church when I was in high school. They knew, I think, pretty early on that something was wrong with her. But, as I know all too well with infants (and yes, that story is one that will be told here later), these things can be difficult to diagnose. By the time they had figured it out it was - for all intents and purposes - too late. There was some hope, though, and that was where Japan comes into the story. Apparently there was a doctor there who specialized in the kind of microsurgery that had the potential to correct the problem and save this child's life. So, money was raised and the three of them went. And the surgery itself was successful, I suppose, as far as those kinds of things go. I mean, the problem was corrected but her little body could not rally by that time to overcome the damage... She died a few months after her first birthday. We had her party at our house - it was an understated affair as by that time we all knew what was going to happen. My mom still has the pictures from that party on the wall in our den. She was smiling then, at the lit candle in the cupcake set in front of her.
When her death was announced in church, a couple of days after she had passed, I was, of course, already aware of it. But the preacher stood in front of the congregation and told everyone else. And then we moved on with the service, standing and singing the Doxology: 'Praise God from whom all blessings flow; Praise Him all creatures here below; Praise Him above ye heavenly host; Praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost.' I cried bitterly then. And I'm pretty sad now, remembering. But that's the thing, isn't it? Children are a blessing. No matter how long they are with us.
What happens to us, then, that we somehow go along the way from finding the other people in our lives as a blessing to something less than that?
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