Would You Like a Little Perspective to Go With That Pain?

Monday and Tuesday were just horrendous days. The whole family came down with the stomach flu at the same time, and I'm sure you can just imagine what that was like. It's bad enough when the kids get it, but when five people living in the same house plus Mama all get it, it's a never ending nightmare.

Well, a never ending nightmare for 24 hours.

The good thing about the stomach flu is that usually it passes quite quickly. So though I was still feeling a little weak on Wednesday, and M and Terence were still a little sick, by Thursday everyone was pretty much back to normal. In fact, I was able to jump right back into my triathlon training starting Wednesday.

(I'm so glad that it happened this week and not next week when I'm supposed to race! That would have been a terrible disappointment after five months of training.)

Anyway, I learned something new about M during this. She has her mother's tolerance for pain and discomfort, i.e. next to none. I can remember sounding just like her when I was younger. She would cry and moan and say that she just couldn't stand it any longer, and then wail that she had prayed but why wasn't Jesus making her feel better? In fact, she would work herself into near hysterics. It like a flashback to when I was in labor with her. I think I said some of the same exact things. In vain did I try to explain that Heavenly Father was always with her, and that maybe He wasn't taking away her sickness because it was for her good. She wasn't buying it.

Now that it's all over with, we can both see how really a short period the flu lasted. It was hard, but we were all able to stand it, and now our immune systems should be all the stronger for it. It just made me think that life, looked in the eternal perspective, is that way too. All the trials and adversity we have here in this life, though it may be hard and we feel we just can't stand it, will be over quickly enough. At some point, all of this will seem very short-- and hopefully, we will all be stronger for the experiences we had here on Earth.

Just few little thoughts on the eternal perspective this morning. Hopefully, I'll be able to remember it the next time a trial comes my way!