Overrun by cedar

In South Texas, in December and January, cedar is a bad word.  When people hear cedar and allergy in the same sentence, an instant friendship of sympathy takes hold.  I know of no other words that conjure quite the same horrifying tales of human misery.  The itchiness and the sneezing seem endless, and your eyes can hardly see straight.  And a week ago, I fell victim to it all.  In the prime of this year’s cedar crop, my brain could hardly function.  I wished my sore throat could have screamed.  Yet the misery did lessen and finally disappear, and along the way, the question arose, “What was the point?”  Do we simply say sickness is part of being human?  Or rather, if God can bring good out of anything, can He use sickness for somebody’s good?  In this case, the Lord reminded me to pray.  And He wasn’t meaning just cursory prayer when I have some empty moments.  I think of one friend who awaits a liver transplant.  I think of another friend who endures fibromyalgia.  My friend who lives with Crohn’s disease, and another friend who undergoes dialysis 3 times weekly—they both have days and months that are majorly painful.  And still there are friends who live amidst all the treatments and procedures of cancer, and I have cried over them and for what they withstand.  There will be a day when all the nations gather at Jesus’ throne, and He will separate us one by one, parting some to the right and some to the left.  According to Matthew 25, among those on His right will be the ones who looked after the sick.  They will inherit eternal life and will have been blessed in their earthly living to have loved and served amidst sickness.   One day last week, I caught a squinted glimpse in the bathroom mirror of my uncombed hair, my red nose and dry skin, and my same gray sweatpants I’d been wearing all week.  I saw the sea of Kleenex surrounding the recliner where I’d camped for all the days.  I realized in retrospect how sickness had swallowed me whole.  I had become lost in it, and I easily envisioned how those with long-term sicknesses could become angry and depressed.  Yet right there in that very difficult mix of emotions, may the Lord lead us to love.  May we not simply know that someone is sick, but may we actually look after them.  May we call them on the phone.  May we drive them to the doctor.  May we visit them in the hospitals.  May we sit next to their bed that they would not feel lonely.  And certainly may we pray.  With full intent, in high priority, extending from our love of the Lord and a love of people, may we look after those who are sick.  Out of some crazy cedar allergies, the Lord gave me fresh perspective that was good.