Yet escape I did not. Now my nose is stuffy and red, and I can't talk to anyone for fear of impromptu coughing and sneezing. Alas sickness, even the mild forms healthy 1st world adults encounter, is out of our control.
You know the type, it's no life threatening situation (but you can make it out to be). Its not even worth complaining about but it's much easier to complain than to stoically wait it out. For that matter, it seems that once we've resigned ourselves to its inevitable visitation, waiting it out is just the way of things. Once or twice a year our bodies become an embattled fortress where we holdout for health to return.
Nevertheless, might I suggest that this isn't all that is available to us? Whether whining or waiting I believe many of us are missing an opportunity to grow stronger.
There are three things that we can garnish from being sick:
- Hope
- Humility
- Gratitude
Let's expand on these virtues and exactly how we can discover them while trapped under the weather:
Hope
The wretched state of being sick would not be wretched if it were the only life we knew. Some of us rarely know what it is to be unhealthy. But all of us know that when we are sick, we long to be well. We hope to be made well again. This subtle characteristic is one of our strongest attributes as Christians. What is a follower of Christ if not someone who has hope in His coming kingdom? But hope is not merely a expectation of being well, it is as much an attitude as it is anticipation. When we are ill, and wishing to be well, we choose how to express that desire. We can do it grouchily as we cling to memories of what it was to be healthy, or we can decide endure it happily and joyfully, by anticipating a day when we will be more whole and more in line with our Creator's intent.
Humility
Being "brought low" requires no elaboration when you have a cold. Morning workouts are not an option, food and activities... those become arduous acts of decision or restraint. We are readily confronted with the ghost of a feeling that "once we were," and "now we are no longer." Once we were strong, now we are no longer strong...Once we could, now we can't. The list is a long and depressing damper on our power and ambition. But that is the real blessing of humility through illness.
Our power and our ambition are tightly entangled in our own selves, and they continually plant seeds of pride in our hearts that without weeding, will grow into solid oaks of arrogance. Illness not only can catch us before we fall into this trap, it can do it to anyone. Even rulers of nations can become sick (this and death are the great equalizers of the human race). When we are robbed of our own strength and we see the weakness of all men, we can begin to realize the real source of control in our lives is not in and of ourselves, or in the machinations of Mankind, but that it rests in the hands of the Almighty. Being weak (and often involuntarily) brought low before Him, we are reminded of who we worship in a powerful and physical way.
Gratitude
Just as we can hope in the promise of health, we have a similar chance to heighten our memory of what was before illness, and more importantly our feelings on what is happening in our illness. When I spoke of grouchy recollections in the virtue of hope, I did not mention another way to reflect on the times that we weren't sick. Not every perspective must face forward to the future, the blessing of illness in this respect is that when we look back, we can powerfully contrast the blessings of the past with the struggles of the present; and be grateful for the good times. But thankfulness for past blessings is just the start of instilling this virtue in our hearts. Gratitude is in itself a matter of perspective. It should never be so reliant on comparison to generate its action, that it loses its real role in our lives.
Let me explain: Once you can be thankful for the big comparative things, a year of almost complete health for example, you can grow into appreciation of the real things, like breathing. Are you grateful for breathing? You bet! (When you consider the alternative it makes us very grateful.) You might also be simply grateful for that chicken soup you were able to keep down, or the blanket keeping you warm. Even in our wretchedness, turning our thankful eyes onto even the smallest blessings is an exercise worth pursuing. It is a wonderful personal reminder that grace has not left us even as Mistress Illness attends to us.
If you are sick, I hope you feel better soon, and that this season of challenges would build in you much perseverance, a quality ornamented with many great promises in our Christian faith.
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