Our family just spent a lovely week on the beach with our five kids.   Well, mostly lovely.  There was a  24 hour period where everyone was throwing up.   Violently.  Standing in line at the Winn-Dixie with 8 bottles of Pedialyte,  I learned a stomach bug was going around.  One kid said 15 students in his homeroom were sent home that morning.

During this trip,  an egret walked to a bush near my chair, spotted a lizard and swallowed it in one bite.  I was stunned as I watched a tiny bulb glide down the bird’s slender neck.  The following day, I was racing back to the condo for a beach towel.  I froze  mid step when I realized a long black snack was curled in the green grass.  The snake firmly grasped a lizard in it’s fangs.    My presence caused the reptile to rise a foot in the air and meander toward the dunes, still clenching it’s prey.

Some days, I feel a lot like those lizards.  Swallowed.  Swallowed by the demands of life and the challenges of foster care.

But Paul’s words bring me hope.   He tells his friends, “Death has been swallowed up in victory.”  And he doesn’t stop there.  He continues, “Therefore, my dear brothers and sisters, stand firm. Let nothing move you. Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain.”  

Maybe you’re vacation turned into cleaning up after sick children.   Maybe life feels dark and tight.  Maybe you feel swallowed.  There’s good news.  Death has been swallowed-not you!   So give yourself to the work of the Lord- caring for these kids.  Remember, your work is not in vain.