Moments of Grace in your life

[rogerwa]

I was thinking about this today that if we take a few minutes to look back over the past week or so, if you look you will usually find moments of Grace in your life. It can be something someone said to you, something you read, something you witnessed, or it can just be a time thinking about old times and how forturnate you are. It can be a time where you are with your best friends and you just recognize privately that you feel happy.

If you are a religious person you recognize the presence of God in your life.

What got me thinking about this was a moment this past weekend that struck me hard and will probably stick with me for a while. I thought it would be great if people could share their moments.

Here is mine.. After a hard week at work I decided I needed to escape to the cabin for a few days to relax. It was just me and my 10 year old, little buddy, as I call him. My wife and three other kids all had stuff going on and could not go with us.. It was a beautiful November day, sunny and 60 degrees.

Not wanting this to go to waste, as most northerners can understand, I asked my son if he wanted to take a little walk and enjoy the weather.

While out on our walk I was just kind of contemplating things... My life is passing into a different phase. My daughter is 17 and it is not lost on me that a year from now she will have left the house. Maybe not permanently but things will not be the same. The family vacations, the dinners at the table, etc, all will be different. I have a 16 Y/o that follow right behind her.

As we were walking I asked him if he was having a good time and if he will still want to come up to the cabin when he is older.

He said matter of factly.. "Dad, even when I am old, I'll still be your little buddy". I'm glad we walked along in silence for a little bit as my voice would have been shaky.

WE spend a lot of our lives racing from thing to thing and complaining about this or that. But I would guess that most of us if we look hard enough can recognize these moments of grace that happen everyday. If you don't think this is too corny of a post, please share a moment of yours.

 

[thefairlaneman]

Re: Moments of Grace in your life

Very enjoyable post . I am aware of Gods grace all of the time but like most people it is easier to look back and see how it was there than to appreciate it in the present. We all are blessed every day often in ways we dont even know about....As far as the child leaving the nest it is hard for parents to let go but the pain is helped by knowing "she is where she is suppose to be"

 

[marlboro180]

Re: Moments of Grace in your life

Roger,

Very good post, and enjoy your friend. My Dad and I are still buddies, 40 years into my life, thankfully I realized long ago how much he loves me.

 

[roscoe]

Re: Moments of Grace in your life

having trouble here, seems I am always in the shadows, watching other peoples "moments"

Must be doing something wrong.

 

[DaNinja]

Re: Moments of Grace in your life

having trouble here, seems I am always in the shadows, watching other peoples "moments"

Must be doing something wrong.

Sometimes you are part of someone else's moment. You may not even realize it until you look back.

 

[mxfever]

Re: Moments of Grace in your life

Great thread! I look forward to many years with ?my buddy?. My story goes like this. My wife had a very difficult pregnancy with our twins. She went on strict bed rest at 20 weeks. Around 28 weeks things started to get complicated. She was retaining ridiculous amounts of water and her blood pressure was starting to get high.

At 31 weeks my wife developed a condition called preeclampsia and doctors made the decision to perform an emergency c-section and deliver the kids. My son came first weighing in at 4.4 pounds, followed by my daughter at 2.5 pounds. They both had a long stay in the NICU. My moment of grace is both my kids were healthy. They could breath and eat on their own but were just extremely small and couldn?t maintain body temperature.

Now here we are 19 months later. No matter how bad of a day I have, as soon as the kids hear the door open, they run yelling ?daddy? with their arms wide open. That my friends, is a moment of grace.

 

[huntndakota]

Re: Moments of Grace in your life

My twin boys were born 6 weeks premature. When they were born they passsed their apgar test. Then their oxygen saturation levels started to go down over the next 48hrs. because of under developed lungs. They were born at the local hospital and they don't have any type of nicu all they could do was give them oxygen. Our peds doctor said he would give them until the next day to see if their o2 levels came up. That night the peds office on call doctor happened to come in and check on them because he couldn't sleep. Whithin 10 minutes of being there he ordered them to Penn State Hershey hospitals Nicu. They were transported to Hershey and on the way there one of them had to be put on a respirator. The other one had a nasal cannula put on. They stayed in the Nicu for the next week and a half. From when they were born until they got out of the nicu we couldn't hold them. They then went back to the local hospital for 5 days to make sure they gained weight and ate okay. After this whole ordeal you feel lucky that your kids are alive and safe. They are now 4 1/2 and I thank god every morning and night that they are here.

One more for ya'll my father passed away in march of this year. His greatest passion above all in life was hunting and since I was 4yrs old I went with him. Right after he passed my girlfriend and I were talking about the time he and I spent hunting and how much I was going to miss it. My boys were in the room playing and they came over and said that they wanted to go hunting with me. Talk about a water works show from me and my girlfriend.

 

[Dave Barnett]

Re: Moments of Grace in your life

Great Thread. I could write a book here. I have been doing a lot of this type thinking lately. Wintertime blues sort of amplifies it. I thank God for all our many blessings and ask his guidance through the tough times.
My son Dave Jr. has always been my buddy. We have had our share of differences through the years but all in all we have made a lot of great memories and have plans to make more.
My stepson Tim, has been a challenge. I have tried to draw him into the fold, even adopting him so he would have a sense of belonging. He has always seemed to resent me though and has made a life of being in trouble quite a lot. Sad to say but there is not too many good memories that he and I share. I pray for him daily. Hopefully one day soon we will have some.
My baby girl is 17 and a she is a good girl but her departure is fast coming. She and I have always been close. We don't have a great lot in common but I have some great memories of sitting in the floor playing "Barbie dolls" LOL and she does go fishing occasionally even if it is just to sun tan.
Thanks for posting such a great thread. I am looking forward to reading some more good posts here.

 

[Boomyal]

Re: Moments of Grace in your life

.....My life is passing into a different phase. My daughter is 17 and it is not lost on me that a year from now she will have left the house. Maybe not permanently but things will not be the same. The family vacations, the dinners at the table, etc, all will be different. I have a 16 Y/o that follow right behind her........

Yep rogerwa, you got that straight. At their age they will start to come and go, then oneday they are gone. No more waking up Christmas morning with everybody falling out of their bedrooms.

The Mrs Boom and I are just now reaching the end of that journey. Earlier this year Boom jr went back to WA DC to take up his first real career job. As we speak, we are assisting Missy Boomyal in her first post Masters Degree job move back to Pennsylvania with her new Hubby.

It was an often times wrenching 8 year journey from their first stirrings to seperate themselves from family, until the final blow. Starting in a week or so we will no longer consider their bedrooms to be theirs. Sniff, Sniff.

I will always be amazed at those who can't wait until their kids grow up and leave home.

 

[NelsonQ]

Re: Moments of Grace in your life

Great post....Made me think. My daughter (almost 13) and I were at Universal Studios for Halloween and spent many trips on the Incredible Hulk rollercoaster.

Later on, on the other side of the park a friend captured a picture of the 2 of us standing together with it in the background.

My wife posted it online this weekend and my daughter added a comment "I'm closest with my dad I'd say, and for the longest " When we asked her about the longest comment, she said because "I was the first to hold her from the moment she was born". She's an amazing kid and I'm very blessed to have her.

 

[fat fanny]

Re: Moments of Grace in your life

Great post! I don't know how to explain it but here goes I love my 2 boy's dearly but the day (Lexi) was born 12-25-99 I just knew there was an unbreakable bond and everyday before I leave for work 5:00am I look in to see her sleeping and as I turnaround it never fails I hear I love you Daddy and you know there is just something there that gets me and the boys know it but are alright with it and give her the buisness for it but never when I'm around? thats my moment and or moments of grace knowing that she is the only women (to be ) that will ever love me unconditionally always and I pitty the first boy that comes to my house to take her out because believe me he better be prepaired.

 

[dbkerley]

Re: Moments of Grace in your life

having trouble here, seems I am always in the shadows, watching other peoples "moments"

Must be doing something wrong.

No, you are being allowed to be a witness for others. I also see his grace everyday. I feel blessed just to be here. One day, my early years will catch up to me and he will bring me back home. Until then, he still has work for me or I wouldn't be here.

 

[j_martin]

Re: Moments of Grace in your life

Great post! I don't know how to explain it but here goes I love my 2 boy's dearly but the day (Lexi) was born 12-25-99 I just knew there was an unbreakable bond and everyday before I leave for work 5:00am I look in to see her sleeping and as I turnaround it never fails I hear I love you Daddy and you know there is just something there that gets me and the boys know it but are alright with it and give her the buisness for it but never when I'm around? thats my moment and or moments of grace knowing that she is the only women (to be ) that will ever love me unconditionally always and I pitty the first boy that comes to my house to take her out because believe me he better be prepaired.

APPLICATION FOR PERMISSION
TO DATE MY DAUGHTER

I've used it. It's a riot.

 

[mscher]

Re: Moments of Grace in your life

having trouble here, seems I am always in the shadows, watching other peoples "moments"

Must be doing something wrong.

Maybe not. Sometimes "moments" are few and far between.

My 17 year son has always been strong minded, so our relationship for the last few years, has been "clash of the Titans". He likes rock music and stage performing, no longer likes fishing and could care less, about touching anything under the hood of an automobile.

Until the other night the only "moment" we have had in years is attending a rock concert for the 70's band "Yes", a few months ago. Rock music must be the only thing we can agree on. We had a good time, but then we were on total equal ground.

The other night I saw him perform in his HS show choir, for the first time (his first year performing). Afterwards he hugged his Mom, looked at me a second and the hugged me saying (tongue-in-cheek) "Sorry Dad, I know you wanted a football player, but you got a stage performer instead". (I never cared if he played sports, but I was just glad he was doing something).

Him smiling and hugging me was our "moment", I guess. That should hold me for another year or two.

Sometime I'm just glad my kids don't smother me, in my sleep.

Hang in there.

 

[Fireman431]

Re: Moments of Grace in your life

"Chicken Soup for the Boating Enthuisiast's Soul"

 

[Bob_VT]

Re: Moments of Grace in your life

Rodger,

When one door closes, another opens. Think grandchildren my friend!

Wow. That hit's it right on the head. I can not explain the feeling but, holding my grandson and my granddaughter was a moment of grace for me. The best part is every time I hold them I still remember that feeling. It's an unexplainable unique feeling for me and I hope other's have moments like that.

 

[1fishbone]

Re: Moments of Grace in your life

Sometimes you are part of someone else's moment. You may not even realize it until you look back.

So true!!

One of my 'moments'
I was in a club, a beautiful young 'girl' comes over, stands next to me, smiles and asked if I remembered her, of course I don't think I know her, she's like '21'!.... At the time, I was about 38. (WHEW... talk about a moment)

To make it short, she introduces herself and tells me her mothers name...I remember her mother, we went out for less than a year, at the time, the young girl was about 10!

She went off and named EVERY outing I took her and her mother.
The beach, camping, the amusement park, bed time stories..she remembered everything, mentioned the pictures in mom's photo album.

I was stunned and flattered...I had made such an impression on this 'little girl'!

"Sometimes you are part of someone else's moment"

 

[PGFISHER]

Re: Moments of Grace in your life

You create your own "moments". By being good to life, life has been good to me. Reaping what you sow, works!

 

[eaglejim]

Re: Moments of Grace in your life

God showed me his grace when he allowed me to survive a 36ft fall 12 years ago,I was busted up for 9 months but I learned a lot about myself and people in general and I thank him everyday