Regaining Perspective

This week I got a cold sore. A nasty one. Tuesday it hurt tremendously, and I watched it form. I went to the doctor and she prescribed a two-dose medicine to help it heal quickly. I could see a difference in the sore, after I took them, that the sore was smaller. But my lip and the lower quarter of my face still swelled up.

Then it started going through the whole lengthy process, bruising and discoloring, leaking and foul, pussy discharge. I spent the whole day yesterday covering my mouth when I talked to people: the checker at the grocery store, the workers laying cement in our basement, our neighbors. I carried around a Kleenix to clean up the gross leaky stuff.

Today I'm not at church--too self-conscious. I don't want to tell the story to every concerned, well-meaning person who sees me. My mouth is swollen, red, sore, and disgusting. People stare, and why shouldn't they? It's ugly.

I went to the church web site, lds.org. It showed a video of a mom who was in a near-fatal plane crash, and her story of being in a coma for 3 months. She woke up, back to her little kids and husband, but now with severe burn marks on her hands and face. She goes to pick up kids from school and all the children stare. It hurts her to do all the simple kid-tasks, like zipping zippers and putting her daughter's hair up in a ponytail.

She says that now she considers her role as a wife and mother a privilege. She sees God's hand in her life every single day. Yes, she often wishes she could have her body back the way it was before. But she knows there is a greater plan.

The video is called My New Life . It helped me count a few more blessings today.