Only by chance was I sitting in that waiting room in a Boise, Idaho, hospital when the tiny 4-year-old child was transferred there in the hope of yet saving his life. Numb with worries of our own, we were soon to realize a different kind of agony.

Shall I tell you of this family–the tiny sad mother with eyes worn from crying; the dad, a big, strong, take-charge type of guy who remained a pillar of strength to the others while at the same time suffering so terribly himself.

Not knowing what was happening until the doctor walked into our midst we had stayed, and then as we did realize, it seemed better somehow to just sit there quietly as the tragic story was unfolded.

The specialist who was to work on the tiny little dark-haired boy needed to know the exact story of what had happened to the child–so that dear, brave little mother began…

The details of that tragedy are not what is important to you and I–it was one of those freakish things that should not have happened–an unfinished irrigation project had left an open pipe which for some unknown reason had filled with water, and the little guy had stumbled into it while there on a visit.

Quick actions by rescuers, CPR administered by a knowledgeable grandmother, the best of help from emergency medical technicians, doctors and the specialist–in spite of all these efforts the little boy died.

The country is a great place for kids. However, we should feel compelled to be constantly on the alert for unexpected dangers we are harboring on our farms. Anything can happen, like the time my sister opened the door and there stood her husband holding son Lee out at arm’s length towards her. That little guy was coated with greenish manure clear up to his shoulders. “Lee, what happened?” she asked.

“I was just trying to catch a frog,” came his reply. “When he jumped, I jumped.”

In this instance, the result was comical but it could have turned out much the opposite.

Dangers of drowning, electrical shock, machinery hazards, animals (such as horseback accidents), poisonings, fire including explosions, welding burns–there is just no end to the dangers of which we must beware.

Sitting on the outside of such a tragedy as this is not easy. You want to help somehow, some way, but how?

Some years back my friends lost their lovely teenage daughter in a car accident. At first I couldn’t even accept or believe that it had really happened. Having a daughter of the same age and putting myself in that mother’s place I really didn’t think that she, an especially devoted and loving mother, could survive the pain.

Concern for that mother caused me to pray, “God, they love her so much, please if there is a way to let me share some of the pain so as to make their load bearable, go ahead and dump it on me.”

Well, you’ve heard it said, “Be careful what you ask of God, because he’s liable to give it to you.”

He dumped a load of pain on me and for a little while, having forgotten what I had asked for, I could not understand what was happening to me. I cried for three days– and I don’t mean tears rolling gently down my cheeks. I mean painful cries of anguish which could only come from a mother who has lost her child.

So much is so deep inside of each one of us, so personal and so private, and this was one of those times. I knew what was happening inside of me, but my poor family could not know–it was one of those “just accept me” times.

Later on one of my girls said to me, “Mom, I didn’t understand. I knew you liked her, but I didn’t think you knew her that well.”

I told her–and she understood.

This past spring my son’s basketball team was involved in an important tournament when at the same time the grandfather of one of the team members was stricken with a fatal heart attack. Sharing the sadness of Scott’s loss of his grandfather, along with the gladness of winning, these boys gained so much and grew so close during that time.

Returning home from the tournament in time to attend the funeral, some of the boys instinctively felt they should attend although they would prefer not to go. After being excused from school to attend the funeral, those boys were soon to understand why they had gone.

As Scott walked up to them after the services his words to them said it all– ”When I looked up and saw you guys walking in, my stomach got all warm inside.”