I Do Not Like Mondays? A Week Later

It is Monday morning again. If I start out another Monday morning like this one, I may learn to hate Mondays. Well, that's taking things way to seriously . . . let me explain.

A few minutes ago. the lights came on, two nurses came into my room, greeted me, and proceeded to change mis pantalones, my pants, my dry pants, my adult diaper - I forget what manly name I am supposed to call it! Briefs. The procedure involves me turning my body, from side to side - to expose my back side - so that the the old pants can be removed, my body can be cleaned, and the new pants can be put on. It is a painful process for someone with extreme bone pain in the hips and thighs (due to bone cancer) and a fractured femur. Not having adequate pain medication prior to the "procedure" this morning, the pain was incredibly intense. I cried like a baby. A big, 45-year-old baby. It hurt. But I mostly felt bad for the two nurses who patiently and gently attended to the task. They remained calm and had a calming influence on me. [I feel so bad that others have to do this kind of thing for me. Funny, I am beyond the embarassment, humility, or shame that I should have with all this - I've just accepted that this is the way it is - but I feel bad for those who must attend to me.] Within minutes, it was over. Sometime in those few minutes, pain medication was given, and I am now resting peacefully - with laptop on lap, listening to the Honesdale traffic oustside my window, and typing this post.

Things are OK . Mondays are not to be hated. Mondays are to be embraced like any other day - as precious gifts of time from the Lord God Creator who gives us each day, along with the resources we need, to live for and glorify Him this day. So let us begin this day with praise to Him, with thanksgiving in our hearts, with a determination to glorify Him, with a sensitity to others that will allow us to minister to their needs and help point them to Him.

It is 6:45. Already this morning, God has given me a gift in the way of a conversation with one of the nurses attending to me. One who so kindly attended to my needs this morning. She shared with me how she will be leaving her work here to attend to her mother full-time. How she is looking forward to doing so. How diffficult it may be, at times, but how much joy it will bring. She told me about her dad, who struggled in his life, yet was changed by the Spirit of God and began a Bible-teaching church in the area. A passing conversation. An unexpected blessing.

Praise the LORD! Praise the LORD! Praise the LORD, O my soul.
While I live I will praise the LORD;
I will sing praises to God while I have my being.
Psalm 146:1-2.

It is 7 am. Today, I am going to try something new. I am going to post this entry as it is right now. Even without having my wife check it for "unnecessary weirdness." And, Lord willing, I will add to this same post during the day - to update and amend on the progress of this day in the journey of a man, a family, facing a difficult life circumstance.

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