Beautiful Brietta - the first flower of Spring

Well, I give up! I try and try to do the things I am supposed to be doing, and my thoughts overtake me and I cannot do them...I sit and think, and think some more. Lately, my thoughts have been much about Brietta - a beautiful little baby who entered the world and stayed with us a very short time. She has returned to Jesus and is safe with Him....I know that very well, and yet, the sadness of her leaving seems to be too much some days, especially when the sun is not shining.

Brietta took her family by storm, as seems to be the way of every baby in every family - they come and they conquer all of us by their simple innocence and trust, and dependence upon the ones who love them. Her Mother shared a verse from God's Word about Brietta - It was..." I shall not die, but live, and declare the works of the Lord!" Each time I saw her, or thought about her, or prayed for her, I said that verse to myself, for Brietta was a miracle....born so much earlier than expected, so small that her Daddy's wedding ring was a large bracelet on her little wrist! We all wondered if she could possibly make it...but her family never doubted - they knew that she was going to live....and declare the works of the Lord. Their strong faith made me a believer, and I began to pray with new faith for her to grow and thrive. And she did! The list of miracles is long as we think back on her history...it seemed that each day was a new miracle, as she beat odds and rested in Him, allowing Him to give her life. And she blessed each of us who knew her. She was totally loved by the family God sent her to, and they altered their lives to meet the needs and help her grow and develop.

I think a lot about the seasons - they fascinate me. I cannot see the season begin to change without going into deep meditation on all the messages the changing of seasons speaks to my being. I have probably had more thoughts about season changing than anything else in God's World. Brietta's life was like the first spring flowers that push their way up through winter. Those who do not know God might say that she did NOT live, as she went back home after only 19 months of life, but I am finding that her verse - I shall not die, but live, and declare the glorious works of the Lord is as true in her death as it was in her life - She was a continual miracle - a continual reminder that God's in His heaven - all's right with the world! Who could but praise and worship a God Who could create such a beautiful little girl, and give her life in the midst of so many challenges to life...who could not believe that He is, and is able to do what He chooses. The length of life does not accomplish that - it is the sheer miracle of life, and the beauty it encompasses....in the spring, my favorite flowers push up and scatter beauty in the midst of the waning winter - so bare and bleak. They live a very short time, which always causes me to be sad and wish they could be there longer, and yet, who can forget their glory - the great beauty they bring to those who see them...I remember those spring flowers all the way through until next winter, and they cheer me, and help me to know that Spring will be back, and we will experience the living beauty of the spring flowers once again. I wonder if their glory is not greater because of the short time we have them with us....This is how I visualize Brietta's short life - a time of bringing joy and beauty to a world that is sometimes hard, with various difficulties...the short time she lived doesn't affect the impact she had on our lives, and the beautiful little flower she was while she was here. I am thankful, so thankful, that the changing seasons are no longer something she will experience as she lives in the perpetual spring of life with the One who created her.

We thank you God, for sharing your precious little flower with us, and reminding us of You, and Your great love for us! May you greatly comfort those who loved her.

Time is a boundary we know on earth - there is a land of no boundaries where a thousand years is as a day, and a day as a thousand years. We look forward to that place, to the One Who rules there, and the little lives which have gone before us, some before we ever knew them!