1And as Jesus passed by, he saw a man which was blind from his birth.22345
And his disciples asked him, saying, Master, who did sin, this man, or his parents, that he was born blind?
Jesus answered, Neither hath this man sinned, nor his parents: but that the works of God should be made manifest in him.
I must work the works of him that sent me, while it is day: the night cometh, when no man can work.
As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world.
It's the second half of verse 3 that I was thinking about when I wanted to look up this story. I guess my thought is that one of the primary reasons Brooklyn may have been born under difficult circumstances is that these circumstances would allow God to manifest His works through Brooklyn's life, including her trials. I recognize that His works could be, like this account in the bible, for her to be healed of her physical challenges. This would obviously constitute a miracle in every sense. And I do recognize that she has been physically blessed during her short two months here on earth. Her progress, both in her brain and in the rest of her body, has been amazing and we are so grateful for the healing that has already occurred.
At the same time, I can also see that His works can and have been manifest in so many other, miraculous, ways. We've come to know better the power human concern, deep sincere concern, for Brooklyn's well-being. I believe when such concern is felt or manifest, the individual is blessed.
We've seen the miracle of selfless service. Part of why such service is miraculous is that such service can and does take place in these last days, which Paul describes in 2 Timothy 3:
2 For men shall be lovers of their own selves, a covetous, boasters,b proud, blasphemers, c disobedient to parents, d unthankful, unholy,
Despite this being the condition for so many in the world, we've seen just the opposite in so many ways (e.g., people shoveling our walks, driving our kids, visiting us in the hospital, meals and thoughtful gifts, quilts/blankets made), each of these undoubtedly at the cost of many hours of labor. In other words, we've seen, first-hand, "that the works of God should be made manifest in [Brooklyn]."
Of course we also see the benefit of a newborn child in our home. There is nothing sweeter than her noises or more peaceful than watching her sleep. She has got her daddy keeping the closest thing to a journal that he has kept in some time, and she gets our family to slow down in an often too-busy world. She has helped our family strengthen relationships and helped us become better at joyfully and gratefully accepting others' help while also having a renewed determination to accept God's will and move forward with Him hopefully more a part of our lives than He was before she came to us. Again, God has manifest Himself through her life.
Going back to the account in the Bible, in verse 4 it reads "I must work the works of him that sent me, while it is day: the night cometh, when no man can work." This verse makes me wonder if some of these things we are learning through Brooklyn's experience are best learned here while we are on earth. Maybe some of the manifestations of His love that I've mentioned previously could have come after this life but are simply more beneficial to all of us now, during this time on earth. It seems to make a lot of sense that such could be the case.
If anyone is interested, there is a beautiful depiction of this story from John here:
Beautiful, Chad! Thanks for sharing.
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