Monday, March 11, 2019

Oxygen

Oxygen.
It is one of the most important "ingredients" supporting life itself in our body. Our arteries and veins spread throughout our bodies, deliver oxygen to all of our organs, including skin. Our lungs suck in oxygen rich air and the red blood cells pick it up in alveolii in our lungs...tiny air sacks filled with O2.

When we are wounded with wounds that are slow in healing....in order to facilitate healing, sometimes hyperbaric chambers are used.  Once inside these chambers, 100% O2 is breathed in and this treatment helps in healing sores that are resistant to healing.  This aids in healing infection and allows antibiotics to work better.

But what happens when Oxygen meets an open flame?
Explosion.
Destruction.
Chaos.

So too, Friendship aids us in "support" for our lives.  As we travel through life, we accumulate friends and this helps us in, not just our day to day existence, but also helps to heal old wounds as we talk and pray with our friends.

But what happens when there is a spark?  A Spark, say of mental illness?  Or catastrophic physical illness?  We hope that the oxygen will heal...but sometimes it explodes into painful rejection as friends feel the need is too great for them to meet.  Or maybe they are just horrified to see a side of a friend that is less than attractive and maybe frightening.

I have lost a bunch of friends including my maid of honor at my wedding and other friends as well. When I lived in Orange county NY, I had 6 friends.   We were very close...stamping and laughing as we worked on creating beautiful cards.  We studied God's Word together.  In fact, I led a Bible study for women that these ladies attended along with others.  We prayed together.  I  felt that I could trust them and they could trust me.

Then fast forward some years after I had moved away to the Poconos in PA...the mental illness that I had hidden from my friends, or maybe I told them but since they never saw it in action, they dismissed it....Anyway I had been doing so well that I had been off my medication for some time and then the Schizophrenia erupted into paranoia and terror of my husband.  I fled, being sure that he was following me.  And foolishly, perhaps, I sought refuge in the home of one of my friends....and the other 5 friends,  cared for me until I finally returned home.  But after that my friends did not call, they did not respond to my calls...I bumped into my closest friend later in a CVS and she averted her eyes and mumbled an awkward response to my greeting and walked away as quickly as she could, her cheeks bright red.

To say that I was devastated is an understatement.  I trusted these ladies.  I trusted them with my heart.  And they broke it.  And the biggest thing I want to say to them is "YOU CALL YOURSELVES CHRISTIANS?"  I guess they forgot to put on their WWJD bracelets and they forgot all about the mandate we are given to love others...especially those who are ill or unloved or disenfranchised.  I'm not psychotic now but I know that these ladies will forever see me as "crazy" and that there is nothing I could say to change that.

Lord Jesus, you  were kind to the demoniac living among the tombs.  You unchained him and helped him to dress.You  healed his mind and most of all you loved and cared about him.  Lord, thank you for loving me, even in my worst moments.  I pray that these ladies will some day learn the lesson of love and basic human kindness.

All this to say that you need oxygen to live...but it also can blow up in your face.

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