Wrapped in Love

By now everyone has seen the story of the mother orca that carried her dead calf for 18 days while she grieved. When the mother became too tired, or she needed to eat, the other orcas carried him for her. Almost every blogger on the planet has written a post about the power of that orca's grief. I've seen two in my news feed already today.

While I have experienced the loss of multiple unborn babies, I have never had to go through holding a child who has died after his smile has been permanently etched in my mind. I don't know how anyone survives that. Maybe they never really do. This post is not about grief though. It's about something else I saw in this story.

I have always had a hatred for the phrase, "it takes a village." It doesn't really take a village to raise a child. It takes a parent or parents who watch their kids carefully, always put them first, and who sacrifice daily to give them everything they deserve. My husband and I have never relied on anyone to watch our kids. We don't have a babysitter. The kids won't stay with anyone else because they've never had to.

When it comes to the daily grind, as crazy as our kids make us, we have them. We rely on each other. And that's not to say that parents who choose to parent differently are wrong. That's just what we do.

What I have seen this month in those around me, and what I recognized in this story is God's compassion and his empathy. When you are at your lowest low, and you think there is no way you are going to be able get back up from the places life has pushed you to, He is there. God puts people in your life to help you carry that burden. He beckons the people around you to share the weight. They wrap their arms around you and love you, expecting nothing in return. And just like that orca, eventually you will be able to let go.

I just want to say thank you to all the people God has put in our lives to help carry us, and I hope that we are playing such an important role in the lives of others.

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