New Eyes

I can't sleep tonight, though, I'm well aware that my baby will be up and ready for another day in just a few short hours. Maybe it's the thought of school and the intense months that await me. Or maybe the fact that Emmelia is in her own room now (I really miss her being in ours). Or just the excitement of life. Whatever it is, I can be thankful that it's given me a few extra moments in the day to say a prayer for the sleeping ones, and jot (or type) down some thoughts. I'm thinking of a beautiful little thought I heard just a few weeks ago, while driving in the car with Thomas. He is the king of silly podcasts, and usually I loathe them, but this one was interesting and grabbed my attention. It reminded me of This American Life...I think that's why I liked it.
It was something by Stephen Tobolowsky, who is I guess an actor, who happened to be severely injured. To make a long story (or podcast short) he was riding a horse around a volcano somewhere far away, fell off, and broke his neck. Only, the doctors somewhere-far-away didn't discover it had been broken, and sent him home, on a plane (a HUGE no-no for someone with a broken neck!!!). Back in America he discovered he was walking around with a broken neck and the only thing saving him from severing his spinal cord was his arthritis. Kind of interesting right? The next half of the story involves his recovery, the insane head brace he had to wear, near death experiences, and a really, really mean squirrel. Apparently, a very well endowed squirrel at that. So the following excerpt is from some heavy reading he was doing during recovery.



The following was regarding the divine gift of love. It was taken from the afflictions of love, which is a book in the Torah (I think?). It was written during a period of hardship, war, and loss. Obviously Stephen found it applicable :)

From Stephens readings,  he surmised that "certain individuals are occasionally tested with injury or illness as a means of lifting them up to a higher spiritual level. Despite the trauma of the test, the rewards are great, nothing less than being able to see life with new eyes. Therefore the injury or illness does not have to be viewed as catastrophic, but a rare, even divine gift of love."

(ha...I know what you're thinking..."She's still talking about that"...yes, yes I am.)

I have new eyes, and I am so thankful. God help me to keep them.