“Watch and pray so that you will not fall into temptation. The spirit is willing, but the body is weak.” Matthew 26:41
“I got to eat a popsicle today, mom,” said my youngest child, proudly showing me her slightly stained pink tongue.
“Oh, that’s nice, honey. Why?” I asked.
“Because the nurse said it would help with my nosebleed.”
My eldest had them occasionally as a young child but she hasn’t had any in a couple of years. But my youngest child…poor thing. She got the worst of it.
Last year, she had them so severely and so frequently she made daily trips to the school nurse’s office. Sometimes twice a day.
Exasperated, I took her to an ENT whose diagnosis was weak blood vessels. His suggested treatment was a chewable daily allergy medicine (to help prevent them) and Afrin nose spray (to help stop one already in progress).
After several weeks with no nosebleeds, my first thought was “Hooray!” closely followed by second thought which was “Well, THAT information sure would have been helpful about a year ago.”
In our desperation, we’d tried all sorts of things over the years to prevent/stop them.
- A humidifier.
- Liberal application of nasal lubricant.
- Short nails to ward off accidental scraping of the inside of her nose.
- Pinching the bridge of her nose for 5 minutes straight (no peeking!).
- “Crazy lips” - a small piece of wet paper towel, folded to fit between her top lip and gum.
And though some of these things may have helped, nothing came close to helping as quickly and completely as our ENT’s suggestions.
So, after almost six months of being virtually nosebleed-free, we had become complacent.
"Nosebleeds? That’s a thing of the past," I thought as I happily checked “None” on the school’s medical conditions form. Goodbye humidifier. So long emergency stashes of Afrin bottles.
I surprised my sweet hubby with his second love this morning: a mocha frappuccino. Since I never just drop by his office and since our strict needs-only budget doesn’t allow for such luxuries, I knew this would be a real treat for him.
The need to reconnect with him felt almost overwhelming.
I couldn't put my finger on it, either, because we haven’t been fighting. Actually, things have been running surprisingly smooth at our house lately.
We say pleasant enough “good mornings” as we get ourselves and the kids ready for the day. We ask how each other’s day was in the evenings and do a decent job listening to each other. We’ve eaten more dinners together around the table than not lately.
But in the evenings, after the kids go to bed, which is the only real time we have to connect with each other on a deeper level…well, we just hadn’t been. And that's when I realize what is happening...we have become complacent and have been, ever so slightly, drifting apart.
And it is neither of our faults and both of our faults at the same time.
And God reminds me that our marriage is susceptible to the same kind of sneak attack we experienced with our youngest's recent nosebleed. He reminds me that complacency will lead us and our relationship down a path that we've been too many times before. Click to Tweet!
And I'm thankful for this wake up call.
For the Great Physician's diagnosis that our marriage is weak right now. And for His suggested treatment of making the time to meet each other's most important needs.
“Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might. Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil. For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.” Ephesians 6:10-12 (ESV)
“So, because you are lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of my mouth.” Revelation 3:16 (ESV)
“Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour:” I Peter 5:8 KJV
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