Life Matters - March 12, 2025
Following Job’s example of patience was slowly diminishing in myself. Discouragement was tugging for my attention. Before that life-changing (in the physical negative) accident I had been recognizing my need for stretch exercises to keep my body limber as I got older. But now? I was fortunate if I could pick up a hundred or so little #8 nuts and bolts individually and deposit them one by painstaking one in the second box beside the first one. I suggested to the young therapist one day that she could make it much easier for me if she let me pick up one box and dump it into the other. Judging by her grin she thought it was funny. Which was indeed the point, but still, when alone, discouragement beckoned. It was very probable that the box would end up on the floor if I tried the dumping maneuver. Giving in to discouragement felt like it would be a luxury. But I knew my emotions wouldn’t stop with just discouragement. I was ‘’not ignorant of satan’s devices.’’ (II Corinthians 2:11) Once he got his ‘’foot in the door’’ of my heart, a myriad of other negative emotions could very likely follow… such as, but not limited to, anger, depression, bitterness, or horrors… what if all those emotions took up residence in my heart at the same time?
So, laying in the hospital bed I prayed desperately for courage. Every morning, evening, and in between, I prayed for courage. I told the Lord that I don’t ask for courage from things, circumstances, people—nor any I could generate from myself—but I do ask for the courage that flows from the throne of His grace, the courage that goes on into eternity. And God answered. I can feel courage flow into me, every time I come to God with my needy, wide-open soul, invigorating me from the inside out. Has there been temptation? Yes. But when I turn to God, He always answers. It is now thirteen, going on fourteen years later, and I say this as a testimony to God’s faithfulness, I have not had a day of discouragement.
God has answered my prayers in other ways. He has given me time to reflect, to research, to write. Would God continue to give me courage if I neglected the gift and call that He has on my life? I do not know; but I cannot afford to risk finding out as long as He keeps supplying the inspiring resources that I cannot do it without. There are varied gifts within the body of Christ and for now, at least, this is where God has me.
I do not ask for fame nor recognition; I do ask for courage and inspiration from the throne of God’s grace; and that many will someday benefit from these labors. Perhaps are even now. ‘’Neglect not the gift that is in thee…’’ was the word to Timothy (I Timothy 4:14) in his church-leading labors and it applies to every Christian, individually and corporately. Jesus gave us the parable of one who refused to invest the talents (a value measure) entrusted to a steward by his master and then the disastrous ending of the steward when his master returned for an account and found the talents buried. (Matthew 25:25) ‘’Neglect not the gift that is in thee” applies to every steward of what God has given.
I was the grateful beneficiary of many good nursing skills while in the hospital. Besides my gifted 5-year-old youngest daughter, there were many skilled and patient nurses periodically checking in and attending to my needs. ‘’Nurse’’ Sadie, my wife, gets the ‘medal of honor’ from me for being the caring companion with an eye for detail. One of those details was keeping me supplied with yogurt to balance my blood sugar levels.
A nurse had come in every day for several drops of blood to sample and then gave me three shots. I asked her one day what the shots contained and what they were for? Nurse explained all three, but only one caught my attention. Insulin. To balance my blood sugar levels. ‘’Insulin!” I exclaimed, “did I get diabetes somehow? I’ve never had a problem with high blood sugar levels – how could I have high sugar now? Do I have diabetes?”
‘’No” said the straight-shooting nurse, who poked so many holes in me that I asked her one day to hit the same holes each time so she doesn’t make more new ones! (she didn’t think I was serious) Now she pointed at the clear plastic bag with its gray-green contents, hanging on the roll-around stainless steel pole parked beside my bed, with its flexible tube beginning at the bag and disappearing into my belly. Nurse continued, “we have to closely monitor your blood sugar, and give extra insulin as needed, because of the high sugar content in the mixture feeding into your stomach.”
‘’Oh,” said I. And that was the day Sadie took my diet into her own hands by delivering yogurt into mine. It worked! I got weaned off the insulin!
And then the day came to wean me off the feeding tube as well. A strongly built young nurse announced its removal upon entering my room with an older motherly type nurse. ‘’Today is the day,” she said, “we’re removing your feeding tube!’’
Music to my ears. ‘’But,” I asked, confused, “am I to walk to the operating room?” There was no gurney. Unless they left it in the hallway.
‘’Oh no,” I was told, “we’ll remove it right here, you don’t even have to get out of bed.” She then patiently proceeded to explain the procedure. My understanding was not well rounded, however, until the tube whipped out like a live thing, spewing some of its contents as if it were mimicking a whip-lashed snake. Strongly built Chris Lee pulled that off with a six-foot-long black snake. Nurse did it with a feeding tube. The snake spewed its innards…
Life Matters!