Allergies

Greetings Dear Reader,

I am allergic to the planet.  Once winter has played out its last and the world begins to spring back to life I am assailed.  It starts with a little bit of congestion on the left side of my head.  It is always the left side. 

Then begins the dance of saline spray, hot tea, Guaifenesin, and cool breezes.  I was tested many years ago and basically anything with pollen attacks and attempts to kill my respiratory system.  The worst is pine pollen.  I register almost off the charts at the high end of allergens.  Cats, raccoons, and possums also diminish my capacity to breath.

For a time I had to stay indoors much of the spring.  That is no longer true but I must stay ahead of the attacks.  I win most of the time.  It is a discipline of avoiding what assaults me or being prepared ahead of time.  It is a vigilance of mastering the subtle signs and stopping things before they start.

I cannot stop the allergies.  I am allergic to one of things that is the essence of life in a fallen world.  Others have it much worse that I do and this is not a rant or complaint.  In truth those allergies teach me a great deal.   They remind me that I am not designed to be broken and fallen and inhabiting a fallen broken world.

I am designed to be a good man in a good world.  My being was mapped by God to belong to a world that is his, under his guidance, free of allergens and sin.  I am designed to be good but I fail.  We are not designed to live in a fallen world as walling beings.

That is how it is.  The journey I am on is the journey back to good.  It is the journey from this broken world back to a good one.  It is the journey away from the world for which I was not designed to the world for which I am intended.  I have fallen to earth as a contagion and allergic to it.  Following Christ is the treatment for the condition and the path to healing.

What I have to do is keep ahead of the symptoms.  I have to recognize the onset of failure to follow or selfishness.  I have to see when I am putting my interests above those of Christ.  I must follow without hesitation.  I must keep walking and avoid the things that trigger my allergies.  In this context stopping to smell the roses is exactly the wrong thing to do.

Aliens and Strangers – DeGarmo and Key

Sunday morning, and the pews are filled with friends of mine, yeah, friends of mine,

And, for the first time, I look around,

I realize, I realize...

My closest friends are aliens and strangers,

Travelers here, living with danger,

My closest friends are aliens and strangers,

Travelers here, living with danger.

I used to wonder why they act so strange,

Now I know, yeah, now I know,

I heard the preachers say this world we're in is not our home, it's not our home.

My closest friends are aliens and strangers,

Travelers here, living with danger,

My closest friends are aliens and strangers,

Travelers here, living with danger.

They're all pilgrims just passing through, heroes away from their homeland,

And, since I've discovered the truth, I look at my friends and I can't help but think that....

All of my friends, they're aliens,

Just passing through, yeah, they're aliens,

My closest friends, yeah, they're aliens,

My closest friends, oh, they're aliens,

Just passing through, just passing through,

Just passing through, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

Wishing you joy in the journey,

Aramis Thorn

Mat 13:52 So Jesus said to them, "That is why every writer who has become a disciple of Christ’s rule of the universe is like a home owner. He liberally hands out new and old things from his great treasure store.”

(͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)