There’s so much in my head right now, but it doesn’t seem like there’s enough time to deal with it all. I guess this is why my parents were always so high-strung and in constant motion back in the day.
The past few weeks have been tough around the house. First, I came down with a nasty cold. I had all but convinced myself it was a sinus infection, but the doctor disagreed. So, I moped around some and my wife took excellent care of both me and our newborn daughter. Then our little girl got my cold and was stuffed up. This still wasn’t too bad until my wife came down with the same thing. Now, a week before Christmas and the house was completely sick. I was still getting over my cold, which was down to a relentless cough.
Now, I had been setting aside the Thursday before Christmas for a couple of weeks. Duke was going to face Gonzaga in a meeting of top-25 college basketball teams. I had finished my chores, planned on bathing our girl during halftime and all was set. Then the previous game went into double overtime, keeping the entire first half off the air. Second half was about to start when our daughter, who had been fighting a low-grade fever, has her temperature spike up to 102°. Doctor gets called and we’re on our way to the hospital as a precaution (she’s only two months old).
Everything was fine, though they did draw blood and a lot of tears in the process. Needless to say, that was a long night. Surprisingly, I was able to catch a few minutes of the game around 02:30, when ESPN U replayed it. Of course, I couldn’t stay awake to see more than a couple of minutes, but oh well. The important things is, of course, that my daughter is feeling better. There’s nothing worse than hearing her cry and being unable to ease her discomfort. I took her a couple of days to get back to normal, but by Christmas her old personality and appetite were back. Her mother and I are still trying to get there. I’m apparently destined for another bout with this cold, as it’s making a comeback.
This has to be really bad news for my wife… She doesn’t need two babies to take care of. I’m constantly amazed by her. Here I was, sick and moping around. She took care of me and didn’t complain (though I did). Now that she’s sick, she’s still not complaining, even though she’s working harder while sick than I did. There’s a lesson there that I hope I can apply to my life.
I had been talking to a priest at my church about this very topic. He told me how easy a trap it is to fall into self-pity when we’re feeling sick. He offered me on suggestion that I found useful. I’m not always able to focus enough outside of feeling sick to use this, but with more practice, I hope I’ll be able to. Anyway, the suggestion goes like this: when you’re feeling self-pity try to picture Jesus carrying his cross up Calvary. Just imagine yourself in the crowd. Then picture the face of Jesus looking back at you, making eye contact. For me, going through this exercise was a powerful thing. Just to image everything He would be feeling, but the complete lack of dejection or pity at His own plight says a lot about my own weakness when I have merely a bad head cold.
Time will tell if I’m able to apply this lesson to my life. I hope and pray that I will, but I also acknowledge my failings in this area in the past…
