A Sick Perspective

Sometimes getting sick is a good thing. Not the feel horrible part, but the part where we have to take time and recover. That’s hard to accept that but it’s true. Beyond whatever symptoms you have, I think we are equally annoyed at the the fact that our schedule comes to a screaming halt. We lie in bed and think about all the things we should be doing. Most would do anything, try any remedy to get better and back to our “normal” lives when the sad truth is we need the interruption.

Last week I had a nasty virus. Viral syndrome, my doctor called it, which is just a cryptic way to say that a virus has infected more than one system in your body. Mine was respiratory infection with a side of a stomach bug. For the first two days, I didn’t know my name or what day it was. A fever of 101.6 will do that for you.

But as I started to recover, my mind started working. I found myself thinking about all things I wished I could be doing that I couldn’t. I wanted to be singing at my church’s women’s conference, but I couldn’t. I wanted to be writing but I couldn’t sit up in bed for more than a few minutes at a time before breaking into long, painful coughing fits. I wanted to be knitting, but I couldn’t.

Then my thoughts started to expand. I started thinking about other things I wanted to do but wasn’t brave enough or didn’t have enough time to do. Laying in bed unable to do anything made it really clear what I wanted to do. It also made me wonder why I wasn’t doing it when I was healthy. To think about what was really holding me back. I prayed, “Lord, when I get better, I’m going to do the things you’ve put in my heart to do.”

Talk about clarity. I realized that all the things I delayed in doing was for stupid reasons and I should just go for it. I realized that if God put it in my heart to do, He’d help me do it. Unfortunately, I had to be completely shut down to see how much I could actually do.

 It was like I was Sleeping Beauty waking up from the spell. I needed to be removed from my “normal” life to see it in a different perspective. And now I’m thinking up a master plan, but it took me getting sick to see clearly.