It's just a Cold.

Good morning Monday Mourners,

I got up this morning with a strange scratchiness in my throat and a stuffy nose. Not a good sign! It just might be a cold. I try to avoid them. I take my vitamins and drugs at the first symptom in hopes of avoiding or at least shortening the length of a cold. I'm sure you do the same. A winter cold; it's common to all of us. It's annoying and miserable; it's inconvenient and disruptive to our productivity. It's a cold. I hate them. So do you.
I did not rush to the emergency room. I didn't even call my doctor. Going to see the doctor would simple eat up 3 hours of my time and have him send me home to "wait it out". I didn't ignore it because that will only give it license to attack my body and perhaps develop into something that will require medical attention. It's just a cold. I took some medicine and a little vitamin C and I'll get some rest today. Maybe drink a little extra water and see if I cant flush this out of my system. But I will not be admitted to a hospital anytime soon - at least not for a cold.
It is amazing how our perspective can affect our behavior. The morning David woke up with a sharp pain in his side we made our way to the emergency room right away and before the day was out we knew we had terminal cancer. We didn't just shrug it off and assume it would go away. We took immediate action. It was not a cold - it was a life-threatening pain requiring immediate action.
Some days my grief becomes so painful, so pervasive that I lose my focus and my perspective gets off-kilter. I begin to think that this loneliness and sadness will kill me. In reality, though it is miserable and unsightly at times, my grief is... "a cold". It is not life-threatening. Painful but not a killer. And in light of eternity not to mention the whole of my life experience, this season of grief is about as long as a cold; short and soon to pass.
That's not in any way an attempt to minimize the very real pain we mourners feel. I did say it was "miserable". But it is also helpful in the midst of our "misery" to at least try to put it in proper perspective. This will pass. I will have better days and the "sniffles" of grief will give way to clear-headed, happier days. It's just a cold. And I know that I face not only better days to come but an eternity of truly happy, healthy, joy-filled days with my Lord - and my husband.
So, if today you are suffering with this irritating infirmity of grief hang in there! It will get better. Take some medicine if you can (loving friends and some quiet rest would be helpful) and plow through! I'm sniffling my way through it. We'll sniffle together. See you next week.

Karen