Tender mercies

Almost six years ago I absentmindedly left my sleeping two-year-old strapped in a car seat, trapped in a locked car, with the windows rolled up, on a hot summer day. I abandoned that vehicle in an isolated parking spot, in the middle of a large parking lot, without a second thought. I forgot she was with me.

But God did not forget her.

Two years ago my wife just happened to look outside...to see our one-year-old flailing underwater in the swimming pool. (Unable to swim, yet fearless of the water, he somehow waded in.) Another few seconds, he would have drowned.

But God had other plans for him.

Last night my one year old miraculously survived being crushed in a "human mousetrap" -- suffering only minor scrapes and bruising.

I have no explanation for these tender mercies. Why were we spared unimaginable grief and tragedy when others have been called upon to suffer being sorely tested is beyond me.

I would like to think that God answers prayers. But mine are no more earnest or "worthy" to be answered than others, I imagine. Perhaps the prayers of others, offered on my children's behalf, have spared them from calamity. I would like to think so. If so, I thank them.

I'd like to think that angels sometimes step in when and where we fail to do so.

I have no other explanations.

I know that even the most watchful parents sometimes turn their backs, collapse from exhaustion, or simply forget, doing something stupid that places their children in harm's way. I know I have. Many times.

I am grateful that Heaven has not (yet) required us to pay a terrible price for doing so.

I hope I never have to.

I sorrow for those who have.

And I offer a special prayer of gratitude. Many such prayers, in fact.

Praise God from whom all blessings flow.