Refresh your mind

When you are viewing a website; periodically it helps to "refresh" the screen so you can see the most current, useful or even important information. I think the same thing is true of our mind.

Obviously there is no button to push to refresh or renew your mind, but do we even recognize the need? May I suggest that the refreshment comes when there is an inner desire to view things with a new perspective or even an outward force that drives you towards that end?

I've mentioned before that Sam's illness has brought a new challenge to our life together. Over the years things change and we adapt because there is time to adjust. This new twist in our circumstances came about so quickly, it is challenging to adapt to the emotional impact and so it requires a constant refreshing of our minds/hearts.

Sam and I talk from time to time about how this life experience fits together with the rest of life. Would this experience be any different for us if our belief system was different than the ones we hold? Have we learned anything about ourselves or about our beliefs through this experience?

Looking back over the years, I can see how our lives were molded and transformed by the path we walked. In the last few years however, for a variety of reasons, I have felt like I've been in a spiritual rut and in need of refreshment. Well, let me tell you, there is nothing like this experience to knock you down to your knees. But, that is the best place to receive refreshment.

There is a proverb that says, "The spirit of a man will sustain his infirmity; but a broken spirit who can bear?

It's hard for Sam to deal with the very slow healing process from his treatments. The change in his condition one month after his last radiation treatment is there, but barely recognizable. He just wants to feel better again and it is difficult when that process is taking so long. At times it can feel like there is no upside, but then we are reminded that without this treatment there was no hope. Hope. That’s the refreshment.

We hope that the medical treatments will "sustain Sam’s infirmity”, but there is only one healer and hope in Him mends our broken spirit.

Sam and I hope to be able to put this chapter behind us in a few weeks after his PET/CT scan. We look forward to a day when we can have some fun together again... like a Halloween party at Dean and Valerie's house.



Well, have a smile on us. And remember to count your blessings - when you look for the good things in life, you will find them and usually they will outweigh the bad.