My wife, Chelsi, wrote a poem this past week about one of the most precious and terrible days of our lives.  It is yet untitled, and she reminds me it may not be in its final form, but I found it so beautiful that I couldn’t delay sharing it with you. 

The poem is about the day our second daughter was born and my wife almost died. After the seemingly perfect delivery of our healthy baby girl my wife lost nearly half her blood and the doctor told us that she needed to go into emergency surgery as soon as the Operating Room was ready. The blood they were transfusing into her system wasn’t keeping up with the blood she was loosing. As you can imagine Chelsi was not well and barely conscious. The doctor gave us two minutes together before she was rushed into surgery because he knew it could be our last time together on this side of eternity. I read her a scripture or two as we wept and prayed together. I tried to gain as much composure as possible and asked her, “Chelsi, if God decides that these are your last conscious moments on earth, what would you like me to tell our friends and family on your behalf?” What I saw and heard next, by God’s grace, I will never forget. My wife looked at me with eyes that revealed her ruthless trust in God and said, “I want you to tell them that God is good.” I knew that it wasn’t just lip service. She felt in the deepest parts of her being that God was good, even in the most difficult time of her life.

Our daughter’s first name is Hope and her middle name is Avniela, which means God is my rock in Hebrew. Here is the poem that my wife wrote just a few days ago, about the birth of this beautiful baby, now eight months old.

The beginning of you was like a secret conversation amongst God,

Words and Whispers of an artist wielding a masterpiece -

Undetected by the canvas, the medium and the room,

Part by part you were created and became more like a melody

as others noticed the sway of my walk and

your little knees cradled in my warm skin.

Your first breath was a cry as you were lifted from the water

This mystery of you, encompassed by me, revealed

And you and I now connected by nature and twisted flesh.

Vessels that saw you to life gave me a vision of death.

What ensued was like a secret conversation between me and God

As I savored what seemed my last delicacy of life,

its sweetness gave way to true richness – peace.

This masterpiece working in me the release of control

and surrender to the artist of both you and me.