Don't Shrink Back

Shortly after I sipped morning coffee, I did what I should've done all last week. I leaned over a pot of semi-boiling salt water with a towel draped over my head and breathed balmy air. As the washing machine churned in the background, I tried to mentally transport to the beach.

It almost worked.

Bottom line, I'm still sick. Sick enough that barring a miracle, my left foot reconstruction, scheduled in just over ten days, will most likely be cancelled.

Which leads to mixed emotions.

Weary of being sick and slow, I would prefer a break from laying around. On the other hand, getting it over with would just be nice.

So would you pray for me? For a miracle? For God's best plan?

I check in with my doctor again on Monday.

That said, I just saw that another terrorist attack has occurred. Innocent lives have been taken and a yearly celebration turned into a night of carnage.

In the last two weeks I've heard a growing number of talking heads voice that most of us truly want the same thing: family, health, vacations, and all that makes up what we consider "normal" life.

And then there are those that don't.

Some point fingers at particular religious groups while others focus on skin color.

But among every people group and religion, there are those who live for peace and those who stir up strife. Those who make a difference with acts of kindness, and those who shoot guns and detonate bombs.

It's really quite simple.

Okay, maybe it's not really that simple.

But when I sit in bed day after day, napping, coughing, coughing more and napping again, my sense of self worth shrivels to where it's hard to wrap my brain around life's basics, let alone those who wish to do others harm.

But a war is raging. A war on innocent lives in random locations. And it's not going away soon.

"So do not throw away your confidence; it will be richly rewarded. You need to persevere so that when you have done the will of God, you will receive what he has promised. For in just a little while,

'He who is coming will come and will not delay. But my righteous one will live by faith. And if he shrinks back I will not be pleased with him.'

But we are not of those who shrink back and are destroyed, but of those who believe and are saved" (Hebrews 10: 35 - 39 NIV).

I don't care if you're sick in bed like me or on the front lines, making decision that effect our national security.

Don't shrink back.

Find some way - even if some very small way - to pass on a smile, to encourage a friend, to promote healing.

Be intentional.

Get uncomfortable.

Push beyond your norm.

It matters. Right now. As the world grieves, again, our small encouragements heal.

At least that's what I tell myself when limits overtake and fatigue requires rest.

My prayers. My phone calls. My reaching out. It still matters.

Like this little boy.

I just saw this for the first time but it's exactly what I needed today.

photo credit: 299/365/2855 (April 5, 2016) - Smile More via photopin (license)
photo credit: Beauty with Imperfection ( 不完美的美 ） via photopin (license)
photo credit: Black Sheep vs White sheep via photopin (license)