“Six days off!”
Heading home last Wednesday night, after a long day at the Walk-in Clinic, this one thought cheered my weary mind – “Six days off!” Six days to do what I wanted. Six days to finish the projects I had started. I went to sleep with my mind filled with plans for all I would accomplish.
Then morning came and with it a mild sore throat and a headache. At first I shrugged it off as allergies, but as the morning progressed I began to ache and feel hot and the headache got worse. I thought about the patients I’d seen this week and groaned. One painful swab up the nose and 15 minutes later, a faint line on the test strip confirmed what I feared. COVID had finally caught up with me.
I’d been feeling pretty cocky, being the only provider at work who hadn’t gotten COVID yet, but, as Solomon warned, “Pride goes…before a fall.” (Proverbs 16:18). Now I know for myself what everyone has been saying about this disease – COVID hurts!
For the last two days my head has been pounding and every muscle and joint hurts. It hurts to swallow and I have no energy at all. I wake up for a few minutes, but fall asleep a short time later. Of course I can’t stay asleep, because I’m so congested I can’t breathe through my nose.
But you know what the hardest part is? Being away from Ana. She hasn’t gotten it yet, so I’m staying away as much as possible, in the hope that she won’t get sick. I’m sleeping at the other end of the house and trying not to be in the same room with her for very long, but it’s hard. I miss her!
I think this is how God must feel. The terrible disease of sin has separated Him from the children He loves for over 6000 years. He would do anything to have us back together with Him. In fact, He already did everything in giving His Son Jesus, that “whoever believes in him shall not perish, but have eternal life.” (John 3:16).
Jesus died so that we might live. His blood spilled at the cross is the only cure for sin. And God did this because He loves you and me, because He can’t stand being apart from us, because He misses us.
How about you? Do you miss Him? Then don’t wait a moment longer. Give Him your heart today. Don’t let sin separate you any longer. Come home to the Father today. He misses you so much!