A Celebration Of Life

My husband asked me if we were having a barbecue next weekend.
It is the first official holiday that marks the beginning of the summer season.
I knew what he meant.
He didn’t want anything large, just the family, which is large enough!

I knew that I could talk to my daughters as we drove to a bridal shower.
It was the shower for the fiance of my younger son.
My daughters were excited about cooking out and having our usual barbecue menu.
It was just a matter of deciding which day of the weekend would be best.

I knew that my older son has to go to a wedding that weekend and would not be joining us.
I sent my younger son and his fiance a text just in case they were free on the day we chose.
My husband loves to grill hamburgers.
He is his happiest when summer is here and he stations himself by the grill.

I was excited as I anticipated the first cookout of the season.
I was making the shopping list in my head.
I was planning the menu, which includes many of the things my family loves to eat.
I made a mental note to ask my husband if there was enough propane in the tank.

I have been noticing quite a lot of birds singing in the early morning hours.
I know that we have a nest behind one of our shutters outside our bedroom window.
Two birds, presumably the mother and father, perch on the tree branch outside our window.
The birds sing and prune themselves as they hop from branch to branch.

I also saw quite a bit of bird activity on my deck.
I heard lots of singing through the open windows.
I heard lots of singing even when the windows are closed.
There is a nest somewhere, I presumed.

As I was watering my plants on my deck, I went over to look at the grill.
Quite a bit of debris from the trees was around the grill area.
It had been windy during the past week, so I didn’t think anything of it.
As I turned to walk back into the house, a thought came to me.

Birds singing, tree debris, a nest somewhere; the clues tumbled in my mind.
I opened the lid of the grill.
I was startled by a bird that flew out right next to me.
I looked down and saw a perfectly formed nest right on the rack where we cook our hamburgers.

I have never been that close to a nest before.
I have never been able to peer inside.
It was shaped like an igloo.
The opening was quite large.

I looked inside.
There I saw three, tiny baby birds; pink skinned and featherless.
There little mouths were opened, ready to accept whatever food their mother will bring them.
I could see their heart beating in their chests.

I closed the lid of the grill.
I didn’t want to intrude.
Then I remembered that I saw something else near the back of the grill.
I opened the lid quickly one more time to see two eggs laying off to the side.

Apparently only three of the five eggs hatched.
I wondered how the other two eggs got so far away from the nest?
Now what do we do?
Do we move the nest so we can use our grill or do we broil the hamburgers inside?

There was life was in that nest.
I cannot walk away as if I didn’t see it.
Perfectly formed baby birds with their heart beating in their chests.
Tiny baby birds who can do nothing for themselves and who are dependent on their mother.

I will see what my husband says.
He is the man who stopped on the side of the road to move an injured baby bird off to the side.
I think I know what he will say; there is still another week until we want to use our grill.
How fast do baby birds grow?

I went to a party on the weekend.
It was in the neighborhood where I grew up.
It was on the street that was around the corner from my old house.
It was a Celebration of Life party.

It was for a couple who love the Lord with all their heart.
It was to celebrate Life when life was not expected.
It was to celebrate victory over cancer and heart failure and kidney failure.
It was to celebrate the husband that was the perfect match to donate his kidney to his wife.

Their story is a testimony to the goodness of God.
Their story gives God the glory at every turn.
The wife grew up on my street, the oldest of seven children.
The Lord brought us together again after all these years because we are sisters in Christ.

We had food and fellowship.
All over the house was evidence of God’s grace.
On a banner that hung in the family room was a verse on which the husband clings.
It was the verse he prayed over and over as his wife was not expected to live through the night.

Call upon Me in the day of trouble; I will deliver you, and you shall glorify Me. (Psalm 50:15)

I was so blessed to be at the Celebration of Life party.
Men and women, young and old, were there to celebrate what only God could have done.
I discovered that two other women were part of the Celebration of Life.
One had a rare form of cancer, the other a brain aneurysm; each survived.

The Celebration of Life party was not just about surviving.
It was a testimony to the goodness and sovereignty of God.
It was a Celebration of Life when life was not expected.
It was the Celebration of Life even when life here on earth is done.

The Spirit of the Lord was palpable.
The Joy of the Lord was fully present.
The Goodness of the Lord was truly celebrated.
The Victory of the Lord Jesus was the Truth that we all held onto.

The husband of my friend from so long ago, gathered us all together.
We sat in a room, in every available seat and corner and listened to the story of their journey.
We saw the banner with Psalm 50:15 displayed.
We heard about how that verse was prayed over and over during the longest night of suffering.

After my friend thanked God, praised Him and gave Him the glory, we sang.
For one hour, we sang.
We sang worship song after worship song that spoke about the victory we have in Christ.
Music never sounded so sweet.
Praise never reverberated so clearly through the open windows.

Life.
It is precious.
It is fleeting.
It is God-ordained and God-designed.

Life is not ours to end or shorten.
Life is ours to preserve from the womb to the grave.
If only we could peer inside the womb and see the sight I saw in the bird’s nest.
If only we could see the perfectly formed little baby with a beating heart.

But we can.
Through ultrasound, we can see life from the moment of conception.
We can see arm buds, leg buds, eyes, spine and the baby’s beating heart.
How can we not protect life; how can we stand by and allow it to be snuffed out?

It would be very convenient to remove the nest so we can grill our hamburgers.
It would also be very wrong.
It would be very convenient to take the life of a child growing inside the mother.
It is also very wrong.

According to God.
And that is enough.
Life is important; it is to be cherished until God decides when that last breath will be taken.
Life is to celebrate for the miracle that it is.