I almost wrote this post a few nights ago but something came up. Puke came up, to be exact--from my 6-year old boy, who had a nasty stomach virus this past weekend--and I was the bucket holder.
I don't use the "h" word often but I feel really ok saying I HATE it when my son gets the stomach flu. It's a great picture of injustice and the brokenness in this world! He had it numerous times in the first few years of his life--BAD--but hasn't had it like that for the past 2 1/2 years... until last weekend. He finally started to perk up Sunday afternoon, successfully ingesting (and keeping down!) a good 12 ounces of Crystal Geyser Juice Squeeze secretly spiked with an electrolyte solution. It only got better from then. This was nearly 48 hours after the first up-chuck late Friday afternoon. I'm not exaggerating when I say I held the bucket some 20 times in that span of two days. That's a lot of throwing up for a boy who doesn't have any body fat to spare--and he really looked like it.
I realize it might seem at first insensitive to say that it was a rough weekend for me. After all, I wasn't the one throwing up. Nevertheless, it WAS rough for me because it tears me up to watch my son wretching like that.
Having said all that, here's the thought that inspired this post: I can rejoice in the midst of it all. Paul says in 1 Thessalonians 5 to rejoice always, pray without ceasing, and give thanks in everything. It seemed like a funny thought at that particular moment but I knew it was from the Lord because it didn't match the undesirable reality of what I was experiencing at that time. It was a breath of fresh air, and it lifted my spirits.
I don't have to be giddy in the face of affliction, or adopt some religious-looking physical prayer posture, or thank God for the suffering--in order to be a spiritual person. But I can tap into that deep God-given joy (that's independent of circumstances), pray silently and out loud as I clean up puke and wipe Jaden's face with a cool, wet washcloth, and thank God that He's always good and always in our lives despite the unfavorable and unkind things that life throws at us.
