Psalm 127:1 - A song of ascents. Of Solomon. Unless the LORD builds the house, the builders labor in vain. Unless the LORD watches over the city, the guards stand watch in vain. Up on a hill sat an old house. It’s windows had dark blue shutters and blue trim on the windowsills. There was a dark teal door with several dead bolts and chain sliders to bolt it shut. It took four steps to reach that door, open it and walk inside.
Looking around inside, you saw that the living room had recently been remodeled with light brown planking making up the floor. At first glance, it seemed to fill each room with its vertical strips. But there was a room at the end of the hall that still had old fashioned dark orange carpet. You may have wondered why this room was different than the rest, but you decided to continue your tour of the house. There was a stairway that led to the upper floor of the house. Each room had a different theme such as the bathroom had seashells in glass containers on the sink top and seashell patterned shower curtain and towels. Another room was all dressed up in rose colored walls and matching sheets. You went from room to room and decided that the house had another room added recently. It was evidenced by green paint only covering part of the room and planking hadn’t been completed yet. You wondered how a room could be added on a second floor, but you decided not to give it another thought and decided to do more exploring downstairs. There were rooms that had been created by simply putting up dividing walls or adding them on to the house by way of a new section of foundation which had been laid each time the owner wanted a new room. But there was no more room on the land to add another room either downstairs or upstairs, yet a blueprint of the house was stretched across the kitchen table as if there might be a way to somehow get away with more construction. Our bodies are like that house - under construction with new rooms added. But sometimes those additions consist only of illness and chronic pain rooms. One step at a time another room is built even if there can’t possibly be any room for it. Yet, it happens anyway. We find ourselves at the doctor’s office not with a blueprint stretched across a kitchen table, but with x-rays and lab reports waiting to be reviewed. We don’t want to add another room. We can’t add another room. Why does there have to be another room? But we sit quietly as the doctor explains what kind of affect another room is going to have on our quality of life. We try to argue that there can’t possibly be one more thing wrong with us. The doctor sighs and looks at us with those sympathetic eyes, and we know life is going to change yet again. But a changing life doesn’t mean that it has to become out of control. Take a look at the article, “Steps to Help You Better Manage Multiple Chronic Medical Conditions,” on pinnaclecare.com. The article contains suggestions that may help you feel more in control such as coordinating care and medical records among all your physicians. This way you’ll get the benefit of medical recommendations forming a more comprehensive plan of treatment and lower your risk of medical errors. Another helpful suggestion is to understand your conditions and treatment options. Finding that your medical health home needs an additional room doesn’t have to be overwhelming. With tips from the article above you’ll be able to get that plank flooring down in time for the completion of this new construction so that you’ll be ready to move into it when you need it the most. Also, if you allow God to be the one who coordinates not just your medical care but your life as a whole, you won’t have to do the building alone thus avoiding the builder's (doctor's) labor isn’t in vain. |
AuthorKaren Dalske is a freelance writer, public speaker, is active in her church and writes her blogs out of her own experiences of pain, illness and loss. Archives
January 2021
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