3.22.2008

Before the Cock Crows

Jesus said to him, "Truly I say to you that this very night, before a rooster crows, you will deny Me three times."

Good Friday, the Friday before Easter, Jesus was sentenced to die, Peter denied Jesus thrice, the cock crowed, Jesus was crucified, died and then taken down from the cross, wrapped in burial clothes and laid in the tomb. Now, not to make light of what is one of the most important days in Christianity but that is a crazy busy day. And I also have to point out the rooster: the male chicken, the big kahuna of the chicken family, Papa Chicken, is an important symbol in the world's biggest religion. Some say it is symbolic of morning, of resurrection and awakening. Others say it is a reminder of the denial of Jesus. I say it is a perfect example of God's grace. (Ah ha! Graceful like a chicken perhaps?) You see, Jesus knew Peter would deny his relationship with him. Peter denied he would deny Jesus and then went ahead and denied him anyway; not once, not twice but three strikes, he's out. But that is the beauty of it. He isn't out! Jesus forgives Peter and Peter goes on to be the foundation of the church. In other words, God knows we are going to mess up before we even do it (we are human after all) and yet He's already forgiven us and has plans for us to go and do great things! And as for the rooster, well, he's just another player in the story, but gosh darn it, he's a CHICKEN and that very fact makes him SUPER IMPORTANT because how else would I tie my blog into the most chicken-friendly religious time of the year?? Happy Easter to you all, and while I am stepping down from my pulpit, please fast forward to Good Friday, 2008.

It was an ordinary, crazy busy morning. No roosters crowing nearby or denials taking place mind you but the kids were getting in the last remaining bits of quality time with their cousins (in front of the computer...where they were all enjoying WORDGIRL, a mighty great PBS creation might I add.) Anyway, it was time to take Aidan to school and Lily, having already put her shoes on and blocking the door with her 25 pounds of muscle, was determined to go with us. I figured, heck, why not. It's always nice to get a little one on one time where I can.

So, we get to school, where Lily immediately walks up to the front desk and awaits her conversation with the administrator there, as she does every day and won't move until she gets at least a "hi Lily" and then we head back to Aidan's room. After dropping him off and convincing Lily that it would be much cooler to go home than to watch the fish and hermit crabs and dump all the teaching materials all over the floor, we make our exit. The teacher had asked me to read the newsletter as there was a little blurb in there about me teaching music, blah, blah, blah. I put Lily down so she could go look out the glass door and in the matter of seconds I hear a scream and she comes running to me, bleeding. I look over and she had somehow managed to open the door to the fire extinguisher box and the pane of glass had fallen out ON HER FACE! It had sliced her eyebrow and scratched her cheek and HELLOOO??? This is a school. Whatever happened to child-proofing? And did I mention a pane of glass, about the size of oh, I dunno, LILY, had fallen out on her FACE?! Seriously!

Anyway, the significance of this story is in the fact that Lily is now 21 months old and I am now 3 for 3...all 3 of my oldest kids have now visited an ER to get something put back together at 21 months old. Aidan had, in a very calm moment, fallen into the corner of a cabinet, needing one stitch next to his eye. (We are still tortured to this day about the horror of watching them papoose him...) Madeline, having already had 4 staples to hide her skull again at around 18 months, bit through her lip, ALL THE WAY THROUGH HER LIP, at 21 months, requiring 3 stitches (and about oh, 2 years now of guilt for mom because the stitching had hurt Madeline so terribly that she cursed the nurse out through the entire process...yes, at 21 months...) and now you have Lily, 21 months old. And after a record 2 hours in the ER, all the kings horses and all the kings men were able to glue her back together again. Now that is some quality one-on-one time right there, I don't care who you are!

So, there you have it. Roosters remind us of God's grace and 21 month olds remind us of the fragility of life. And thank goodness for them both. Happy Easter.

P.S. Liam beware: your toddler years are right around the corner....

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