“Off Balance”

Woe, what’s going on with this BLOG? For the true followers of the BLOG, you may have noticed that we missed a few BLOGS last week… yikes, what’s going on? Well, it’s been a bit of a crazy week. My dear wife has a compression fracture in her back…very painful and pretty debilitating. In the midst of this “Steve, the Servant and Caregiver”, had a colonoscopy and endoscopy. (A lot people call me Steve The Servant”…for obvious reasons) Anyway, that knocked me back a bit for a few days and the BLOG was made to suffer. So, here we are trying to get back on track. 

Have you ever had a colonoscopy or endoscopy? The preparation includes drinking about a 100 gallons of “drano”; by the time you arrive at the hospital you’re a bit washed out so to speak. The staff is very professional and after the IV and a few questions they wheel you in to the OR (that’s operating room for you novices). Everyone’s happy, the typical jokes and then they open the port and the “Propofol” starts to enter your vein. I’M CHATTING, ASKING QUESTIONS, AND BOOM, I’M OUT.  “The Propofol brings about deep sedation, acts fast, wears off quickly, and is safe for most patients.” The next thing I notice is I’m back in my room waking up with no memory of the procedure.  

What’s the point of this BLOG? Hmmmmm. Well one point is that “it doesn’t take much to knock me off my game”. I’m not used to Judy being out of her routine and the colonoscopy knocked me off kilter a bit; I was a bit fuzzy for a day or so. The net result was that I did not do the things I normally do, including the BLOG…including having my typical prayer time. In all of this the devil seemed to be harassing me more than normal. Boy, we are so vulnerable. 

I need to be reminded that in all the trials of our life, big and small, our hope is in the Lord. St. Jane Francis De Chantel was quoted in Magnificat the other day …. “be assured the soul that is so happy as to repose in God by entire confidence, is never shaken by anything… everything turns out well for it.” On the flip side, if we discover we are shaken, then we need to stop and again “repose in the Lord”… we  need to put our life back into the hands of the Lord.

So anytime we get knocked off kilter a bit, let’s not panic. God didn’t leave us. We just need to stop, open our eyes and we will see the Lord is at our side … he has not abandoned us… he is there to help us. And that is very good news.

And finally let’s recall the advice from a very good friend who died almost 20 years ago, “Smile and Love”. In the midst of life when things may seem a bit off kilter…. remember to “Smile & Love”. And all will be well with our soul.