Too many times I may complain of my hum drum daily routine. Get everyone up, ready, fed, off to school, pick up the house, make the meals, pick up the kids, teach a lesson or two on sharing and loving each other...and crash at the end of the day...only to get up and do it all over again. Little excitement, not much new or exciting, but that's ok, it's my role right now, it's my job, and the less excitement, the better the day goes,....usually.
Yesterday brought with it the usual routine. At the time to load up the little ones, to pick up the older ones at school, the girls began the usual task of buckling the seat belts. Suddenly my four year old looked up at me, as I came to the side door of the van. Her foot was stuck in the automatic door closing mechanism and it
was dragging her along. I said "Quick, get your foot out". And she screamed, "I can't!"....She looked at me then, with a face, I'll never forget.....Shear panic. She was scared, like I hadn't seen before. Adrenalin, like it is, will give the strangest kinds of abilities.....while holding the baby with one arm, I threw myself into the van, climbed over two car seats, and tried to pull her out of harm's way. In the span of only a few seconds I was there, but couldn't help her. The van door only a few inches before closing on her foot, and the only thought I had was, "It's either her foot or my arm."
In those moments is where truth lies. You never know what your instinct will be until you are there. There isn't time to think or debate which is the less severe option. I simply thrusted my arm forward, looked away and began to grimace and brace for the pain that would come. Thankfully there is a safety measure, that stopped the van door from closing on my arm completely. As I then got my daughter unstuck from the door, we hugged each other with tears on her cheeks and on mine.
We drove off to school, and I thanked God in those moments, that over the years, He has molded in my instinct, the better choice - to sacrifice myself for one of my children. For once in a long time, I had the strangest feelings..... I felt as though truly angels were with us that day, I felt God's hand showing me that in all my moments of weakness there, in my most basic, instinctual reaction, I had the ability to be heroic. Sound silly? I am sure it does, but we all have that moment, not very often, but a moment when we must choose, do I pick me or them. It is heroic to save others, especially at the cost of personal sacrifice.
Yesterday brought with it the usual routine. At the time to load up the little ones, to pick up the older ones at school, the girls began the usual task of buckling the seat belts. Suddenly my four year old looked up at me, as I came to the side door of the van. Her foot was stuck in the automatic door closing mechanism and it
was dragging her along. I said "Quick, get your foot out". And she screamed, "I can't!"....She looked at me then, with a face, I'll never forget.....Shear panic. She was scared, like I hadn't seen before. Adrenalin, like it is, will give the strangest kinds of abilities.....while holding the baby with one arm, I threw myself into the van, climbed over two car seats, and tried to pull her out of harm's way. In the span of only a few seconds I was there, but couldn't help her. The van door only a few inches before closing on her foot, and the only thought I had was, "It's either her foot or my arm."In those moments is where truth lies. You never know what your instinct will be until you are there. There isn't time to think or debate which is the less severe option. I simply thrusted my arm forward, looked away and began to grimace and brace for the pain that would come. Thankfully there is a safety measure, that stopped the van door from closing on my arm completely. As I then got my daughter unstuck from the door, we hugged each other with tears on her cheeks and on mine.
We drove off to school, and I thanked God in those moments, that over the years, He has molded in my instinct, the better choice - to sacrifice myself for one of my children. For once in a long time, I had the strangest feelings..... I felt as though truly angels were with us that day, I felt God's hand showing me that in all my moments of weakness there, in my most basic, instinctual reaction, I had the ability to be heroic. Sound silly? I am sure it does, but we all have that moment, not very often, but a moment when we must choose, do I pick me or them. It is heroic to save others, especially at the cost of personal sacrifice.
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