The Remedy

The Remedy
Carol Condon
carolcondon5@aol.com


I heard the soft whimpering and was quickly awakened from my sleep. I immediately went in search of which of my children’s bedroom it was coming from. As I suspected, it was another leg ache. I grabbed the Children’s Tylenol and ran downstairs. I found him rolling from side to side, crying out in his sleep. Bryce had so many leg aches in his early childhood, but I knew that once I came in with a prayer, a dose of painkiller along with gently massaging the affected leg he would soon be back to a peaceful sleep.

In my kitchen I have a couple shelves dedicated to my “remedies”. There are “over the counter cures” for sore throats, night time and day time coughs, sun burns, fever blisters, aches and pains, allergies, cuts and burns, indigestion, poison ivy and the list goes on.

As we grow older, there are other remedies that we migrate to. After a stressful day we head to the local Starbucks for our much needed boost of the day or plan a day of shopping therapy to balance out the stress we have been living under. However, all these remedies have a short shelf life.

My children have grown out of the leg ache era and have now entered into a time of different “growing pains”. There is not an over the counter remedy for these pains. Sadly, we have all grown accustomed to seeking out an easy cure for what seems to be bothering us. We grab a glass of water, take the proper dosage and expect to be feeling better in the time the directions tell us that we will.

Mark and I have been faced with so many decisions in our lifetime together. There were many times when it would have been so much easier to head to the local pharmacy. However, we have the best Pharmacist. He has given us so many remedies for everything we could possible encounter in this journey of life. One of His remedies is to follow peace. He is not the author of confusion (I Corinthians 14:33) and even in turmoil He offers peace beyond understanding (Philippians 4:7). We would all feel so much better if we would take His prescription and expect to feel better just as His directions say we would!

Hebrews 12:14 (KJV)
Follow peace with all men, and holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord:

The Step Ladder

The Step Ladder
Carol Condon
carolcondon5@aol.com

Dust seemed to settle everywhere. Wasn’t it just yesterday that I had cleaned? Apparently not, because when I visited the calendar I could see that it had been days ago. From the windows to the baseboards there was ample dust to go around. Even the blades of the ceiling fan had been affected and seemed to say, “Have mercy on me!” Denial would not work. A thorough day of cleaning was a must.

As music began to swirl around me I hummed along as I cleaned surface after surface. There was plenty to do that was just within my reach, but if I were to finish I would have to reach beyond what was directly in front of me. So, I worked my way toward the windows.

I raised the blinds to make them more accessible to me. I aimed the spray of Windex reaching to the top and following through to the bottom of each windowsill. Grabbing the paper towels I reached toward the top of the first window when I realized that the upper portion was just out of my reach. It was easy to see that I needed some assistance. I made a visit to our garage and brought in the stepladder. From the rungs of the ladder I reached forward and the dust of yesterday was wiped away.

How often do we find similar challenges in this journey of life? Our lives become so busy and complicated as we fit as much as possible or is it impossible in it. Day after day we have good intentions but soon it is time to bid one day goodbye as we welcome the gift of a new day. In doing so we become overwhelmed with the dust of life.

In order to wipe away the dust of our yesterdays we have to reach forward and many times it is just beyond our reach. That is when we have to go after the “stepladder” for some assistance. It is impossible for us to strain beyond our present circumstances without His assistance.

Philippians 3:13 NIV
13 Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead,