Tip of My Iceberg

It comes. It always does. I don’t look for it. I don’t want it. Nevertheless, it shows up year after year.

My annual miserable cold.

It usually hits about now, After the flurry of the holidays and the re-energized push into the new year. Right as my schedule is becoming crowded with the things I’ve should have done, people I should have seen, projects I should have finished earlier.

I woke up a couple of days ago feeling like a walrus was sitting on my chest, slurping mucous into my nose. Eeew.

It began with loud bouts of sneezing. I’m neither a gentle nor dainty sneezer. I sneeze loudly. With great force. And accompanying particulates. Then came the cough and congestion.

Followed forlornly by “Woe is me.”

I headed for the cupboard where we keep remedies so I could do life without folks seeing me as a walking contagion. A plethora of bottles and boxes confronted me, ranging from homeopathic (my thoughtful self) to the uber-processed lab drugs (my desperate self). Deciding could have been difficult.

Until John mentioned that I should check the expiration dates.

These had been purchased over a period of time. I obviously had forgotten I had some things on hand and had, in a moment of need, repurchased the same things.

Expiration dates ranged from 2013 down to 2008. Not optimal for potency.

“What did I give you when you had a cold?’ I calmly asked my husband.

“I got my own. The stuff we have is old.” Duh.

Great. No immediate relief. No rest. Just a head full of snot and a sore throat that felt like the Mojave Desert had relocated.

Sleep was useless. My head filled up every time I stopped moving and dropped to a prone position. I couldn’t sleep with pillows under my head because I kept rolling off them. I hadn’t bought tissues in forever and resorted to toilet paper, napkins and paper towels.

My poor roughed-up nose has been in revolt.

Which begs the question: If I’m creating so much snot, and we always have sick people in the world, why is the earth not submerged in mucous slime?

I digress.

What I needed was rest. But it would have to be helped in some way with a product that would dry me up or put me out. I couldn’t do it on my own.

In my hurry-scurry world, I know how desperately I need rest on a daily basis. Rest for my mind, my heart, my soul. I know I don’t have what I need to do it on my own. My tendency is to fill my schedule, not lighten it.

“Then Jesus said, ‘Come to Me, all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest.’”       Matthew 11:28

Jesus has offered to ease, relieve and refresh my soul. Help me with those things that feel heavy. Allowing me a sense of rest in Him that the world can’t offer–with all its strategies, drugs and innovations.

It makes sense to me. A relationship with Jesus doesn’t have warnings about harmful side effects. Or an expiration date.

Real rest. When was the last time you experienced that?