I want noodle salad. Watch the clip and you will understand.
At my old church, I attended a Men’s retreat. We were in small groups and the leader asked everyone to share the greatest moment of their lives. Without exception, all of them said, the birth of their child. That my friend is noodle salad.
Now don’t get me wrong. My son is the greatest thing that has ever happened to me or probably ever will. His ability to find joy in the midst of pain is truly inspirational. But the day of his birth was without question, the worst day of my life. My wife and I refer to it as the litany of bad news: Spine, anus, foot, bladder, heart…blah…blah…blah
Noodle salad.
It is funny, on the way to the hospital to have our son, I said to my wife, “is our life perfect or what?” LOL…talk about tempting fate. That was my last serving of noodle salad. I don’t want to give a false impression. I am not a victim or a sad sack, but I definitely look at the world with different glasses.
When I was part of the noodle salad crowd, I really believed I had earned all the good things that happened in my life. If that were true, then are hardships I have encountered since are equally my fault? No, neither is true.
Does God purposely bring pain into people’s lives? If he does, then I agree with the sentiment expressed on another blog I read today…if that is the way He plays then I am not sure I want to be on his team any more.
When it comes to suffering, I see God as more as an opportunist rather than an instigator. There is plenty of pain floating around and eventually it catches up with most of us, most but not all. When we run into it, God is there. But cause it? I certainly hope not. As you can tell, I still struggle with understanding God’s purpose. I don’t blame, but neither do I embrace as enthusiastically as in the past. The answer alludes me still.
So I continue to stagger around in the dark hoping for another serving of noodle salad.
Oh my gosh, YOU were the “litany of bad news” guy! Ha! I remember you emailed me way back in May 2007, just a few weeks after my son was born and I had joined one of the support groups. That is the PERFECT description for those (these…shudder) times. Like one birth defect isn’t bad enough, it’s another, and another, and another and this issue and that issue and the next thing you know you’re feeling like a karmic punching bag instead of a parent. I have since mentioned the “litany of bad news” to several other new parents with kids like ours.
What I don’t get is why do people get upset when your kid’s birth isn’t the best day of your life? So what? I swear it offends the noodle salad eaters or something. What’s up with that!?
LOL…yes, that was me.
I always feel so helpless when a new person joings the VACTERL network. It is such a sick sinking feeling knowing what they are in for and not able to do a thing about it.
Beautiful. Gosh, you are fast becoming my favorite blogger. Say it like it is. Sometimes I think the tulips in Holland crap is just something people say and read to make themselves feel better. Whenever someone joins the group for babies born with omphalocele, I say positive and happy things. Of course I don’t terrify them with what happened after Lucy was born, or that the omphalocele was just the beginning. Or that some babies die right after birth.
NoOdle Salad. (I like it better with one “o” capitalized. Makes it look like real noodles, eh?)
“Karmic Punching Bag”. Can you guys please go on the road? Seriously? I am dying over here. Becca, we need “Binh” in our chat room on Tuesday nights. I still remember the neonatologist looking like she had won the lottery, as Scott put it. “Your baby has imperforate anus!” She had this big grin on her face and Scott turned white as a sheet. I heard a quote, “Human reproduction is the messiest affair of all…” Probably wouldn’t be a good slogan for my email signature, eh?
LOL…ah the Holland story. It is more like you were heading to Italy and the plane was hijacked. You were bound gagged and imprisoned in Haiti.