Leaping from the Old to the New

I have never been big on traditional New Year's Eve celebration. First of all, game time is three hours past my bedtime. Secondly, most of the traditions involve doing something to excess which leads to puking.... and we have had enough of that already this Christmas vacation from natural causes like the flu, as well as reading the latest news updates.

Our final hold-out on getting sick finally succumbed and is in bed with the time honored treatment of Vick's vapor rub applied to the soles of her feet and warm socks put over them. Then we stuck a pin in the voodoo doll and shortly thereafter all coughing ceased. Actually, the vick's vaporub treatment really does work. I think it has to do with pressure points, as in the basis for acupuncture's success. The menthol creeps in through the skin of the sole and the germs are laughing so hard that they forget to do their job and attack the immune system.

Matt's girlfriend was supposed to come spend a few days here, but finally realized to enter this home would be suicide until a giant fumigating tent has been placed over it and small healing antibody bombs exploded within. So Matt headed out to her town, where the germs are more dispersed. We were left alone, hacking and shivering with our fever chills and nausea. ..... and ten pounds of marinating chicken for the gala feast we were going to throw. And a case of Dr.Pepper Diet Cherry Soda which none of us drink, but Matt told me his girlfriend likes. Our refrigerator is stocked with food, which has no attraction yet for at least me and Asherel who are still in a delicate balance between feeling lousy or feeling utterly lousy.

So while I never make New Year's Resolutions, I do have one this year. Next year, I intend to get the flu shot.
And since this is the last day of the year, I feel compelled to reach deep for some sort of spiritual message in all this. This is particularly demanding as the word COUGH is not mentioned even once in the Bible. This shows that God did not create the cough, so my guess is that Darwin did. However, the word sickness occurs innumerable times, and sickness is used in many ways. It can be used to bring heightened awareness of sin, it can be used to make us rely more totally on the Healer, or it can even be used to prove that the one who claimed to be the Messiah could do more than make a good glass of wine.

But I think the best message I can take about sickness is "A man's spirit sustains him in sickness, but a crushed spirit who can bear?" Proverbs 18:14. The enemy is really not the illness. It is never really the stinky circumstances of life, though it always feels like it is. The real enemy is the father of discouragement and despair, the one who crushes the spirit and destroys hope. And that is the one part of the New Year's Eve celebration that I like. I do like the sense of hope, of new possibilities, and brighter tomorrows. I just feel like that potential is there every moment of every day and sometimes even waiting til midnight to claim it may be too late.
"I tell you now is the time of God's favor; now is the day of salvation." 2 Corinthians 6:2