There is a chair in the corner. A square block of a chair. It looks padded but it is not much. Sometimes it will not budge an inch when you want it too. Other times it just rolls away on its own. A foot rest bangs out when you pull the lever. It reclines all the way if you know the right combination of pushing and pulling. You can sleep in it. Helpful nurses get you a blanket and a pillow. You kick off your shoes and crunch up on your side. The pillow slides away on the plastic. You snug the blanket up as much as possible but it is still cold. Machines click and whir. Light bothers. Lights blink. Doors slam. Time for vitals. Time for meds. Of course you cannot sleep. The only reason you are in that chair is because you are keeping the night watch. Someone you love is in pain. Someone you love is broken. Your loyalty is forefront. You take the chair.
In the past three years I have kept vigil in the chair in three different hospitals. In the wee hours of Palm Sunday 2010 the Biker falls asleep at the wheel a couple miles from home. His truck straddles a stone wall at a high rate of speed crashing through brush and trees landing in a field. He has injury all down his left side. Gashes bleeding. Broken bones. Bruises. I keep vigil in the chair. Hosanna. The Lord saves.
Fast forward Spring 2011. The Writer is for scheduled double jaw surgery with chin reconstruction at Tripler Army Medical Center. "Mom, will you come?" They won't do the surgery unless someone is here." Fifteen hours and five thousand miles. Six hour surgery. Brutal recovery. Just brutal. I keep vigil in the chair.
Georgia Summer 2012. Our first granbaby. Induction begins. Mommie labors. Daddy and Amma take turns keeping vigil in the chair. Forty three hours later the lil Geogia peach is born. Perfect. Just perfect.
God has a chair. His throne sits in the center of heaven. Oh! How He loves us. When we are broken, when we are in pain, when we are being reconstructed and restored, when some new thing is being birthed in us God's loyalty is forefront. He takes the chair. He sits vigil and keeps the night watch.
I love you bunches and lil peaches - Pat
Amen. I know the chair, too. Thanks, Pat.
ReplyDeleteThat's a chair God is sitting in for me now...He keeps watch in the dark night and never leaves because He is bored or tired..thanks Pat, I needed that picture in my mind today.
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