Run like a Harlee

“Greet each other with a holy kiss.  All the churches of Christ send greetings.”  Romans 16:16 NIV

Sometime after Jordyn died someone gave us a quote from a book.  I do not remember the name of the book, but the quote has remained with me.  It was written about dealing with grief and simply said, “It’s too high to go over, too wide to go around and too low to go under.  The only way to go is straight through it”.  I have learned that the quote is accurate. 

We are 14 years without Jordyn and I can say that we have learned to manage it better than we sometimes have in the past.  I have also learned to not expect continued, uninterrupted progress.  Some days you lose the battle.  Some days are stalemates.  Some days are victories. 

My drive home tonight started out rough.  Memory lane was kicking my tail.  The drives can be good therapy and provide times for the emotions to process.  But they can also be rough.  But now we have Harlee and Oliver.

Joy has always been possible but sometimes it can be hard to find.  Those two tiny people have changed that.  They do not erase struggle.  Also, it is not their responsibility to solve it, but dang God gave us some powerful new joy bombs. 

One of those is as simple as can be, Harlee’s greeting.  She runs to me.  If you have ever seen a two year old run, it is not graceful.  Arms and legs go in opposite directions and you are never quite sure if she is going to run into something on the way.  But to see her running as fast as she can while saying “Pa pa.  Pa pa.  Pa pa.”  I don’t need any other weapon.  Joy is about to hug me.  She may greet other people like that, I don’t know.  But she greets me that way and it feels really good.  Oliver doesn’t do anything yet, he’s only two weeks old.  But he is enough. 

I am aware of the fact that for some people and at some times, I need them as a weapon to help me.  I am becoming more aware that sometimes people need me as the weapon to help them.  If I don’t engage, they don’t get the thing God may have sent me into the room to help them find.  If my eyes are down, I may miss an entire human.  If my eyes are up, I may still run into something on the way to them, but at least I am still running. 

Have you ever thought about the hard things you have gone through being the weapon someone else may need? 

I wonder how many times I have flat missed it because I don’t have my eyes up.

Challenge:  Run like Harlee.  Run to the people you love.  You might be the only joy they get that day.

Rick Claiborn