Thankful For the
Broken Ankle
O give thanks unto the
Lord;
For He is good;
For His mercy endureth
for ever.
— 1 Chronicles 16:34
There's a set of twins at our school,
a handsome boy and his lovely sister. They are among the most well-rounded,
successful kids you'd ever want to see: sports, Student Council, church
involvement, a host of hobbies, lots of kindness to others.
How do you get kids like these? If
only we could bottle it up and sell it.
Well, it's not for sale. It's
priceless. And it's called parents putting their children ahead of their own
desires and proclivities.
See, their mom was an outstanding professional,
making a nice salary and receiving lots of praise and fulfillment from her job.
Then the pregnancy came along, and not only that, but twins.
"I just don't know how we could make
it on one salary," her husband told her. Although torn, she agreed. She had
always managed to juggle responsibilities before. And she'd just been offered a
big promotion. Surely, she could be one of those working moms who "have it
all."
Well, she developed pre-eclampsia,
and the twins were born more than six weeks too soon. They had to stay in the
hospital for nearly a week, to learn how to breathe and suck on their own.
But they came home, she was able to
nurse, and everything fell into place for the young family. She conducted a
careful screening campaign and hired an excellent nanny to come into their home
when she went back to work.
Finally, the day came. The twins
were at their zenith of cuteness, at six months old. They were "busy," but not
too mobile yet. The mom left plenty of written instructions, color-coded
supplies and multiple phone numbers for the nanny. They waved bye-bye, and
seemed perfectly content every evening when she got home.
She was just settling down into the
routine when she was going out to her car . . .
. . . and WHAM! She slipped and fell
on a patch of ice, breaking her ankle.
OWWWWWW!!!!!!!!
It took eight pins and a plate. Doctor's
orders: she couldn't go back to work for a while. She was going to have to lay
on the couch at home and stay still, to let that ankle heal.
Ah, but organization was her
watchword! She could do that! She had hired the nanny! The nanny could care for
the bouncing baby twins while she was laid up in recovery. She was paying her,
anyway. And she certainly couldn't handle baby chores on that bad peg.
So, for a couple of weeks, she
stayed on the couch and watched the nanny feed the babies, and lift the babies,
and bathe the babies, and make eye contact with the babies, and talk to the
babies, and cuddle the babies, and put them down for nap, and clap hands with
delight when they would utter philosophical statements like "goo goo goo goo."
All of a sudden, the observing mom
would notice that, when the nanny clapped hands with delight at the babies -
HER babies -- the babies would light up like Christmas trees and beam back. Not
at HER - but at the NANNY!!!
Waaaaaaaaait a minute!!!
Hold on!!!
WHAT was UP with THIS?!?!?!
She could see that they were bonding
with the nanny. Wasn't that what she wanted? Well, yes. But every little bit
that went over to the nanny, by definition, went away from HER.
WHOA!
That hurt, and more than the ankle.
She was a believer. She realized
this wasn't God's design, for her or for her precious children.
That was the end of the working
motherhood experiment. The nanny got her severance pay, the mom quickly struck
a part-time work-from-home deal with the office, finances worked themselves
out, and, truly, they all lived happily ever after.
And now the world sees these two
well-adjusted, thriving, beautiful young people, stuffed like twin Thanksgiving
turkeys with a mother's sacrificial love.
So now she finds herself in the odd
position of being deeply thankful for a broken ankle.
It's like this: sometimes God has to
knock you off your feet to help you see where you stand. †
