Hollow Space

Sometimes a chronic illness makes you feel "hollowed out." Sometimes it's another sort of major life change--a move, the loss of a job, a divorce or the death of someone you love. Whatever it is, it saps your energy. It takes away things you loved that used to fill up your life. It frustrates your plans. 


But this week, I received a blog post from my brother-in-law, who's a Lutheran pastor in northern Iowa, that made me rethink that hollow space this lung disease sometimes creates in my life. And ways for me to productively fill it!

Hollow a space, O God, within my busy schedule this week. You have given me enough time, Lord, now let me take the time to give priority to you. Let me be unhurried and my life uncluttered as I celebrate your wondrous birth. Free me from the tyranny of all the demands upon my life, and help me know your will for me. 

Hollow a space, O God, in my many relationships. You have given me the gift of my friends, now let me keep them. Help me not to smother them, nor use them. But instead, help my spirit stay fresh by drinking deeply from the reservoir of friendships found within each one.  

Hollow a space, O God, in the very center of my being. You have given me all of creation. Let me be renewed and recreated daily by your gracious gifts. Help me get rid of the sludge of selfishness and self-concern that occupies so much of my life. Touch me with your refreshing grace. Help me make room in my spirit for your Spirit. Abide with me, Emmanuel. 

Thank you God, for the gift of Jesus. Help me hallow a space in my life for him. Amen. 

Merry Christmas, and God’s richest blessings to each and everyone. May the birth of the Christ child fill your life with joy and peace all through the New Year. Amen.

Let me echo that. I wish you all the merriest of Christmases and hope that in the new year, you'll be blessed with fresh hope, fresh faith and fresh love!

No Potpourri Please!

from Lexi Eddings

One of my frustrations with having a chronic lung condition is that I've become hyper-sensitive to smells.  Last summer we visited my nephew and his scented oil machine threatened to send me into spasms. Bless his heart, he immediately unplugged it, but the chemicals were still wafting throughout his apartment, coating my lungs with every breath. I could taste them in the back of my throat and couldn't breathe easy until we left.

Not the way I wanted the visit to go.

The members of my church and community choir know about my problem and have been so good to stop wearing perfumes or after shaves. But sometimes, someone forgets and uses hairspray or an aerosol deodorant or liberally coats themselves with baby powder. It's easy to do. Why shouldn't they? They have no problem with those scents.

But when they do, my throat constricts, my singing voice gets ragged, and I start coughing almost uncontrollably. Don't get me wrong. I love being the center of attention, but I really don't want to get it this way!

I hate this. And what I hate most of all is that I have to ask for help in dealing with it. And then my friends feel bad if they forget.

I've had to make changes at home too. I cook with olive oil instead of spraying Pam on my skillet. Anything that's aerosolized is super bad for me. It's ok. We're probably healthier for using olive oil.

On my doc's orders, I have a cleaning service come in every couple of weeks because I can't chance inhaling the chemical smells of the cleaners used. I spend the morning visiting my folks while someone else is dusting, scubbing and swiffering. (I've tried to feel sad about that, but I just can't. Billie & the rest of the ladies from Dust till Dawn do such a lovely job!)

This year, when we brought the artificial Christmas tree down from the attic and started unwrapping all the love-laden handmade ornaments, the dust clogged me up almost immediately.

Next year, we'll have to think about getting living Norfolk pine in a pot and decorate it sparsely. I'll divvy up the other ornaments between our kids and then donate what's left to the charity that benefits our local hospital.

The strawberry in the situation is that I'm totally ok with natural smells. Walking through a pine forest is wonderful. Inhaling a pine scented air freshener not so much.

There may be someone in your life who, like me, is dibilitated by chemical smells. Sooo....here's a thought if you'd like to give your house a Christmas-y smell without any danger to someone who has problems with scents. Make some wassail!

Here's my recipe:

Lexi's Surefire Heavenly Fragrant Wassail

Ingredients:

Apple Cider (64 oz.)

Cranberry Juice (32 oz.)

Orange, 1 

Whole cloves (lots of them!)

Ground Nutmeg 1/4 tsp

Ground Ginger 1/4 tsp

Cinnamon sticks, 4

Directions:

Pour cider & juice into a stock pot or slow cooker. Add nutmeg, ginger and cinnamon sticks. Poke whole cloves into the orange and float it in the liquid. Bring the pot to a boil, then set it to simmer and enjoy the wonderful aroma that will fill your home with Christmas cheer! 

Oh! And it'll taste great too!

Have a wonderful holiday season!

The Boy in the Plastic Bubble

Remember The Boy in the Plastic Bubble. It was a John Travolta movie back in the 70's about a kid who was born with an inadequate immune system and had to live his life in a hermetically sealed room, lest a common cold kill him.

In the movie, he ventured out to school in something like a space suit and fell in love with his next door neighbor. In the end, he decided living a full life was more important that living a long one. He & his girl rode off into the sunset on the back of a horse.

The story was inspired by the very real experience of David Vetter, who was born with SCID (Severe Combined Imunodeficiency). Unlike in the movie, David died at the age of 12 after an unsuccessful bone marrow transplant from his sister.

My heart goes out to him and his family. And to all sufferers of HIV-AIDS. To anyone whose immune system is not able to protect them from the invisible treats around us.

My own immune system is what they call "suppressed." I take meds to make sure it is. It has to be because it seems to be what is attacking my lungs. As a result, when I get a cold, it hangs on f-o-r-e-v-e-r and I have to be careful not to let congestion migrate from my head to my chest. I'm fighting one right now that I've been wrangling with for about three weeks. This is a terrible time of year for it what with all the Christmas concerts we have scheduled. You see, I can't sing as well as usual and sometimes, not at all. I feel like I'm letting the director down.

Granted, this is a small inconvenience compared to David Vetter's situation, but it's frustrating anyway.

Knowing I'm susceptible to infection, it's tempting to withdraw, to keep from mixing with others. But that's no way to live. I can't wrap myself in a bubble. I can't give up on having friends and adventures. And even though I'm having trouble singing right now, I don't want to throw in the towel. For one thing, the controlled breathing is good for me. And for another, music nourishes my soul. It helps me believe I'm still myself, that I can still connect with others and bring something of worth to them.

So I'm hoping you'll say a little prayer for me. Our Christmas cantata is set for this Sunday. I'd sure like to be able to do more than just "make a joyful noise."

Here's one of the songs on our program. Though this recording is not of our choir, it give you an idea of what we've been working on. Click through the ad at the beginning and enjoy!