My favorite song to belt out in the car is from the Broadway show Rent called Seasons of Love. It starts...Five Hundred Twenty-Five Thousand Six Hundred Minutes.
The number of minutes in one year.
One Year, 365 days, 1,440 hours, 525,600 minutes.
This Sunday we will have reached that marker.
December 6th marks a year since my parent’s accident. I was at a Christmas party with friends and had run up to my apartment to get my purse when I got the phone call.
My uncle called to tell me my Mom and Dad had ran off the road, flipped their car and hit a tree going about 55mph. That both were in the hospital and they were not doing well.
That’s when your heart stops beating for what feels like five minutes, your can’t breath and you go numb all over.
I had just changed jobs and was about to start a “new” journey. Little did I know my path was definitely about to change and this new journey was not quite the path I wanted to take.
The song goes on to ask: How do you measure a year? In daylights, in sunsets, in midnights, in cups of coffee, in inches, in miles, in laughter, in strife? In 525,600 minutes…
In hospitals- 3
In ambulance rides- 5
In weeks in ICU-2
In surgeries-I think we are up to 4 with one more to go
And in things that I stopped counting long long ago-prescriptions, doctors visits, rehab appointments, trips to Athens and Covington, TEARS but most importantly prayer and just like the song –How about love? Measure in love. Seasons of love.
So what have I learned this year? What have the past 525,600 minutes taught me?
Scripture is the most powerful tool we have to face any challenge. I can’t begin to describe the comfort I have felt while reading the Bible this past year. It has been my warm blanket, my hiding place, my refuge. (Psalm 32:7)
Words cover over me and offer peace in times of despair. I am engulfed in the almighty flames of the Holy One and protected from any and every storm. The Bible is meant to be read! It is meant to be meditated on and kept in our hearts. These words are God-given and are new every morning! (Lam 3:22-23).
Jesus weeps and mourns with us. He suffers when we suffer, he bears our burdens, he wipes our tears, he hears our prayers and pleas. (John 11: 1-36)
He can work miracles. The miracles may be tangible evidence of healing in that they are direct answers to prayers. Or they may be the miracle he is working in your own heart-just the internal change that you experience through the prayer. (Phil 3: 7-11)
I have learned to love my family. We may not always be able to pick family members but we are in our family for a reason. Everyone plays a role and becomes strong when others are weak. The gift of family should never be taken for granted. The thought that I could have lost both of my parents a year ago makes me shudder. I am still to this day, guilty of rolling my eyes at the things they say or do; however, I am the luckiest girl in the world to have two amazing parents. I love you Mom and Dad!
I have learned what a real grown up adult relationship looks like with Blake. He has been my best friend, my very high shoulder to cry on, my rock and my joy. He was standing right beside me when I got that call over a year ago and hasn’t left my side since. I still have butterflies when I think about him, hear his voice or see him and my love for him has only grown by leaps and bounds through this whole experience. I am sure no one wants to have to watch the person they love or their families cry as much as we have over the course of this year. Blake has seen the Adams clan in every light and yet I think he still may spend part of Christmas with us so I guess we haven’t scared him away yet. I love you so much Blake Perry! Thanks for being there for me these past 525,600 minutes times 3. (Prov 17:17).
And I have also learned that when people offer help take it and whenever you can return the favor-do. My family and I would not be where we were without the kind help of friends, family, doctors, nurses, therapist and even strangers.
525,600 minutes, 525,600 moments so dear, 525,600 minutes, how do you measure a year….
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