BEARING CONSEQUENCES

You know they say (do you ever wonder just who they is?) that the Weather Channel is MTV for senior citizens.  I do not watch the weather channel (except when hurricanes are headed this way), but I do look at my Weather App everyday, and citing MTV is a direct indication of my age.   As I write this (yesterday), I see today (have I confused you yet) brings cooler temperatures.  I want to say-

IT'S ABOUT TIME!

But will refrain from sharing my true sentiments and instead say-

LOVELY!

No promises for tomorrow--but for today---I have a thought.

I am suffering with allergies---I would say seasonal allergies, but the season seems to go on and on.  Being not certain what is causing my problems, I am forced to treat the symptoms.  Quite frankly---I am occasionally miserable.  The consequences of coming into contact with whatever  I am allergic to are NOT FUN!  The latest symptom involves my eyes.  About once a week it begins with my eyes itching and my eyelids beginning to redden.  I wake up the next morning with my eyes swollen almost shut and redness from my eyebrows to my cheeks.  It feels like a burn and I am miserable until it begins to fade.  I am taking antihistamines and keeping the skin well moisturized, but the consequences of allergic contact are with me for a couple of days--sometimes three days until I get it under control.  I would not wish this on my worst enemy.  Unfortunately my allergies have gotten worse with age and I cannot figure out what I could possibly be allergic to.  My brothers and parents all had allergy testing done at early ages.  They still dealt with the consequences since many of the things they are allergic to we are not able to avoid.  SO this is another reason I am looking forward to a cold snap---perhaps whatever is giving me grief will go away with cooler temps.  Hope springs eternal.

We all suffer consequences occasionally.   What I have come to realize is those consequences are not always punitive punishment.  At times the consequences involve the limitation of the joy that could be ours.

  I have recently read two books about the Leprosy facility in Carville, Louisiana.  Yes, I know leprosy can now be treated and does not have the consequences it once did,  I enjoy historical fiction and a dear one did an internship at Carville while pursuing their Masters.  So I am interested in the history.  BACK TO THE SUBJECT!  Once you were diagnosed with leprosy, you were confined to this facility.  The patients were from all over the United States.  Though not extremely contagious, there is a segment of the population who are susceptible to the bacteria which causes it.  Until the 1990's there was no known cure---so the consequence of contacting this disease was being placed in this facility.  The facility had all the comforts of home---and the best treatment afforded for the disease.  At face value you would not think this was so bad since everything you could possibly need was provided at no cost.  BUT you were isolated from those you loved----forced to live withdrawn from society---considered unclean and avoided by most.  The consequences were not unlike prison.  A prison which you were forced to live within from no fault of your own---except you were one of the unlucky ones who contacted the disease.

Thinking all of this over, I began to wonder if the consequences of sin in our life might also not always be punitive.  Could perhaps the largest cost of sin be the stealing of our joy?  Think that over and let me know your opinion.

"But your wickedness has separated you from your God,

And your sins have hidden His face from you so the He does not hear."

Isaiah 59:2