I’ve been thankful for the much cooler weather we have been experiencing here in Missouri. With nothing on the calendar after church last Sunday, I decided it would be the perfect day to remove some unwelcome weeds and grass from the flower bed surrounding my front porch. I really wanted to sit in the recliner and cheer on our USA athletes in the Olympics, but responsibility took over and I headed outside.
Once I got started on the much overdue task. I really enjoyed myself. I was very satisfied with the results of my hard work. I knew as I finished I would be dealing with sore muscles for a few days. But I didn’t realize there would be even more for me to deal with.
The sore muscles were a piece of cake, compared to the blisters, rash and itching which greeted me the next afternoon. It was my granddaughter who first noticed something growing on my face, and it wasn’t a sunburn as she diagnosed . Instead the left side of my face was covered with bright pink bumps and shiny blisters that reveals the time pulling weeds had indeed left me with more than sore leg muscles and a tired back.
I know when I pull weeds, or do other work outside, I should wear gardening gloves. But, I don’t always to what I know I should do. Gloves make my hands sweat. Yes, that is really the only excuse I have. As I pulled the weeds that surrounded the beautiful blooming flowers, I didn’t notice anything to alert me to the fact some sort of poison would soon be ready to attack my body. It was just grass. I have pulled grass in the same flower bed for nearly two decades.
I may have been to stubborn to work with sweaty hands, but I was smart enough to wash my hands a various times during my afternoon of sprucing up. With the front flower bed looking so good and the weather being so nice, I continued to work in other gardening area of the yard. I was pretty proud of my work and accomplishments when I finally decided my back and legs were ready for me to be satisfied. Tired and hungry I headed to the shower.
When stepping into the lukewarm shower, it is my normal routine to stick my face right into the water pounding from the shower head. Ahhhhhhhh I rubbed my face and enjoyed feeling the days sweat and dirt roll off of me and make its way down the drain. Apparently dirt being transferred to the drain, was not the only transfer taking place. My hands and face washing would soon prove to be a less than ideal grooming task for that moment.
After filling my tummy and vegging in from the the TV I headed to bed. The alarm would be sounding soon for the start of a very busy week. Several times during that Monday I patted myself on the back when I would get a glimpse of the weed and grass free flower beds. It was my goal to finish up another couple of places in the yard that evening, but instead I found myself feeling flushed and a bit itchy. So I chose more time in the recliner.
As the alarm sounded welcoming Tuesday morning, I staggered across my room and into the bathroom. When I slipped on my glasses and looked there was pink faced image staring back at me in the mirror, it was obvious there must have been more than weeds in that flower bed.
Of course as soon as I saw my pitiful reflection, the itching amplified . My face, my arms, even my ears were begging for me to attack them with my short finger nails. I was not a happy camper as I tried without success to resist the itching requests from my body. Later in the day, after seeing the doctor for a shot, I was sure that would be all I needed to kick this quickly. But on no, when I do something I do it good.
I’m sure you can figure out my story from here. More intense desires to scratch, more spots itching and one very unhappy weed exterminator. My eyes would barely open, my cheeks looked like a chipmunk who was storing up for winter. And did I mention I wanted to scratch so many parts of my body. A co-worker loving voiced the resemblance I had to the Nutty Professor. I referred to myself at the fat Chinese girl.
Needless to say this breakout was caused by what we guess to be the result of me playing with sumac. The nasty poisonous weed apparently was not happy about me uprooting its home among my flowers. A swollen face, arms covered in mini blisters and scratch begging bumps, did not have a positive affect on my mood.
It was while I was swallowing yet another does of the drowsy educing Benedryl gel-caps that God seemed to clear his throat and question what I really had to be complaining about.Apparently my complaining talent was not something
God wanted me to further develop. I had an allergic reaction, not leprosy or some other skin rotting disease.
Immediately 1 Thessalonians 5:18 flashed over and over in my mind and heart. God’s word says “give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you in Jesus Christ”. Did God really want me to be thank for poison sumac? No His word doesn’t instruct me to be happy for the circumstance, but rather he instructs me to be thankful IN the circumstance. Ouch, my heart was experiencing more pain that my swollen, blistered, red face. I immediately put my mind into action to name the things I indeed had to be thankful for. Here’s just a few of the things God revealed to my mind and heart.
It was a 78 degree day in mid-August in the nations heartland. Certainly something to be thankful for. I own a home, with a beautiful front porch surrounded by flowers and plants. I was thankful I was not homeless. I’m not as flexible as I used to be, sometimes I get dizzy when I bend over and stand up to fast, but I needed to be thankful for my health. So many would love to have the ability to pull weeds . I finished the task with the back of my legs being extremely sore, but I had legs, two of them and they both worked. Then God reminded me I had 2 good eyes to see the weeds and the flowers, and even in their swollen state, I could see. I had 10 fingers and steady hands to plant the flowers and pull the weeds. We had enjoyed a summer without drought which has allowed the flowers and weeds to flourish Yep again something else to be thankful for. And the list could go on and on. I had a shower to go to- dinner to eat– electricity to power the TV– a DVR to record the Olympics I miss while outside—- a comfortable bed to rest my exhausted body. Then He reminded me I had the ability to pay to see the doctor- there was a doctor right here in my community- i had the means to receive the shot and later the prescription . I drove a car and lived in a house with air conditioning which made me a bit less miserable. I had a family and friends to check on me and to pray for me. Yes I had an growing case of an allergic reaction, but in the midst of itching, rubbing on medication and lotion and complaining, I certainly have reason after reason to be thankful.
I’m working on my thankfulness and I’m thanking God for using the itchiest of situations to get my mind and heart where it needs to be. Isn’t it amazing the way God works to teach life lessons through the most everyday, rather messy, but blessed lives. . And there again is yet another thing to be thankful.