Serenity - Sleeping Through the Storms of Life

Home, sweet home! I am back from the Gift of Life mission trip in Vietnam. It’s a medical mission that provides heart surgery to children with congenital heart diseases who can’t afford it.

This week, I had the privilege to observe the cardiac surgery of a 16-month-old child up close. It was quite an experience to be with a team of dedicated doctors and nurses working skillfully on a living human. They looked like they were having fun practicing their art and science to save lives.

The surgical team was kind enough to give me a prime spot where I could also take pictures and record videos. I won’t show you those pictures and videos because they are quite graphic and not for the faint of heart to see.

It was a complicated case, but the surgery was successful. I also took a couple of pictures of the child's face during the surgery. Under the magic of the anesthesiologist, he slept through the entire surgery peacefully. He didn’t know his body was pried open, his heart cut apart, blood flow redirected, and his heartbeat was stopped before they fixed his problem, and then they put everything back to normal.

He slept through a storm of life!

When he woke up, he would not remember anything that had happened in those hours. He will feel some pain for some time, but he will be healthier and stronger than before. Had he been awake during the surgery, his fear would have been insurmountable, and his pain would have been unbearable.

It’s a blessing to sleep through the storms of life. In fact, we all sleep every day, and many things happen during our sleep. Our digestive, respiratory, and healing systems continue to work hard when we sleep. We have no control over them, and we don’t have to. God doesn’t want us to.

Unfortunately, many can’t sleep through the storms of life because they want to control everything. Part of the Serenity Prayer says,

“God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change,
The courage to change the things I can,
And the wisdom to know the difference.” ~Serenity Prayer by Reinhold Niebuhr

“Things I cannot change” include the storms of life. I am sure everyone has been through some storms in life. At times like that, we must learn to sleep peacefully through or ask God to grant us the serenity to accept the things we cannot change.

In today’s scripture lesson, Jesus shows us how to sleep through the storms of life and teaches us how to maintain serenity, accept things that we cannot change, and have the wisdom to know what to do and when to do it. Let’s begin!