DISEASE AND DIS-EASE

No one likes to be ill. When we are, our life gets messed up. Sometimes it is completely in shambles. We are at sixes and sevens, not knowing what to do or where to turn because our once seemingly tranquil state is now turned upside down. We’ve all been there and will be there again – and probably again and again in this life. Illness comes with the territory of being human.

And so does being dis-eased when disease strikes us, whatever that disease is. It does not have to be traumatic. It can be a simple head cold that knocks us for a loop; and, again, it does not matter how big or small that loop is. We’re rolling with it and not knowing where it will take us because we’re not in control even as we down the aspirin or whatever meds we are using to get the body under control. That is discomforting and making us feel not the least bit at ease.

We’ve been there. We may be there right now. If you are like me, whenever a disease brings on that feeling of dis-ease, especially if the disease is more than sniffles and sneezing, but a real loss of control over what we are to do next, God comes into the picture almost automatically. We may, thankfully, have a great support group to help us through this trauma who try to bring some sort of ease back into our lives, but we know we also need God’s help. So we turn to God in prayer.

That’s all well and good and what we should do. But why is it that it so often takes a real disease that makes us so dis-eased that we turn to God? Why does it seem than God is only on stand-by duty rather than being on duty all the time? Yes, we don’t want to bother God with the coughing and rasping. We can handle that dis-easiness. It’s no big deal. It’ll pass soon enough if not as soon as we would like it. But we can buck up and plow through.

We can go through the day and even days on end without ever giving any real thought to how God is a part of our daily lives both on God’s part and on our part. God, of course, is always a part of our lives. That’s God’s doing. We are not in control of that and can do nothing about it – thank God! Our doing is to consciously make God a part of our lives on a daily basis and not just when our life seems to be going to hell in a handcart because we are so dis-eased because of some disease.

Easy to say and I’ve just said it. Hard to do. We get so caught up in our daily living sometimes, oftentimes, that it is so easy to take God’s presence – and caring and concern for us – for granted. But we do. We do. And then when we turn to God for help in a real need, we come a-begging rather than knowing and feeling that God knows are needs before we ask and don’t really need to ask. Realizing that truth may not and probably will not make the disease less painful but it will bring ease to our dis-ease which is often comfort enough and enough to get us through the day, one day at a time.