Rejoice that you are more precious than gold
Pray for insight to find why you live
He’ll answer prayer and give power for purpose
As in gratitude with affection you give
~Excerpt from poem titled “Incredibly Valuable” by Patricia Kohls Barrett
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This week I’d like to share some insights and inspiration I’ve received from friends and family. Many thanks to each and every one of you who have held me up in prayer and encouraged me with words of love and support throughout these past few difficult months:
Dear Eileen: In your column "Becoming Me", you told it like it is. You wrote a good column telling how you feel after your surgery. You will be an inspiration to other women who may be facing this kind of surgery . . .This surgery would have floored a lot of women, but you are handling it very well. God has given you a special kind of husband in standing by you and making comments about his love for you. This is all for now.
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Dear Eileen,
Isn’t tragic that the shape of bodies are such a priority when we are looking for spouse, while they contribute so little to our happiness once we have been married for a while? I think quite often if [my wife] had not been in her accident, I may never have realized how much I love her, and how little the shape of her body contributed to my love for her. . . .
[My wife] and I watched “A Fiddler on the Roof” recently. The most poignant part of the movie is where Tevye asked Goldie, his wife, if she loved him. It reinforced the idea that marriage is about commitment and love – our western culture uses it is a by-product of that commitment rather than the other way around.
We continue to pray for you and your family as you journey to “wholeness” . . . .
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Wow Eileen - very real - very helpful - very profound.
You go girl!!
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Beautifully written and very heartfelt, as always, Eileen. I felt you let us "walk in your shoes" for a little while. God Bless you for your wisdom, strength and courage in handling the surgery and new "physical" you. As we know, that is all that has changed, thank goodness!
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Dear Eileen...
You have ploughed through one of the most traumatic/dramatic
operations a woman can have done.
It was smart, it was a preventative strategy, and ~
it was positive for you and your growing family.
There are deep connections which tie us to our body parts.
Especially those parts that are spiritual in their goodness...
the privileged ones that sustain life and nourish our precious babies.
It is how we give ourselves value and purpose...
because we receive so much more as we are giving
from our physical bodies,
our Self adheres to that which is obvious, or seen.
We glance at ourselves in mirrors and confirm that which we see....
So how does a woman who has been a wonderful mother and example
begin to see herself anew?
She does exactly as you are doing right now.
You tear down some things and rebuild.
You cry because you let go....
of incredibly soulful,
physically maternal energies
you once saw yourself as being.
You've come a long way, Baby...
and you'll continue to be the greatest mother,
mother-in-love, and grandmother ever.
Just keep doing what you need to, in order to feel
where you are in the process.
Do not apologize for writing about this!!!
It's real.
It's scary.
It's female.
I learn so much from your strength and honesty...
... and I love you for it.
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“Yet this I call to mind and therefore I have hope: Because of the Lord's great love we are not consumed, for His compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is Your faithfulness. I say to myself, "The Lord is my portion; therefore I will wait for him." ~ Lamentations 3:21-24
Pasture burning on the Kansas horizon
