On Faith & Family: The terrible, horrible, really unbelievably not fun day and more to follow
–By Leah Gibson of Paso Robles
Recently we had a family movie night and watched a kids movie titled “Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day.” We laughed and applauded the comedic story following a little boy and his day going very, very wrong.
Well folks, if you’ve read any of my articles, you probably gather that Alexander and I have a lot in common. For this reason, I’ve titled the article, “Leah Gibson and the Terrible, Horrible, Really Unbelievably Not Fun Day and More to Follow.”
I do believe that God gives us a gift to share with others. I just so happen to believe that my gift is failing at a lot of things and having really strange bad things happen to me so that on your occasional bad day, I can look you straight in the eye, give you a hug and say, “Hey, I’ve been there.”
Leah Gibson
So my day started when I pulled up to my mailbox and found that my doctor had sent the medical records I requested. I tore open the envelope and thumbed through some papers. One comment caught my eye. It said: Patient visibly suffers from acne and scarring all over the face, back, and body.
Gee, don’t I feel like a prize? Couldn’t wait for my husband to get home to me and see all that sexy awesomeness he left behind for nine hours.
After that, I drove home, unloaded the car and the kids, put the kids down for a nap, and started folding about nine loads of laundry. No exaggeration. I didn’t do laundry for several days because, well, I’m a mom and it just didn’t happen. Somewhere in between load eight and nine, I started realizing that that itch I had all day on my scalp was getting worse. Like, it wasn’t going away. Out of curiosity, I looked in the mirror. “Hello beautiful,” I said as I checked out my visibly acne-scarred face in the mirror. “How you doin’?” Then, I saw it. The thing I should have seen in preschool when all the other kids saw it. Something white and sticky with a whole posse of other white and sticky guys huddled beside him on various strands: Lice.
Um, how come I didn’t get lice like twenty years ago like everyone else? And also, why did I just fold all nine loads of laundry before it dawned on me to check for lice?
I know this is a super lame example, but dwelling on social distancing on top of my friends and family finding out I have head lice is kind of making me dwell on Jesus and how many people He touched and hugged and loved that were considered completely unclean social outcasts.
Check out this passage in Matthew 8: 1-4:
When Jesus came down from the mountain, large crowds followed Him. And a leper came to Him and bowed down before Him, and said, “Lord, if You are willing, You can make me clean.” Jesus stretched out His hand and touched him, saying, “I am willing; be cleansed.” And immediately his leprosy was cleansed.
Maybe you don’t have lice or leprosy, but instead, you feel like a social outcast or like no one could love you, warts and all. The good news? In a day and age when people won’t even get within an inch of each other without a hazmat suit, there’s a God who’s willing to touch you, warts and all and love you despite your failings, shortcomings, and sin. How do I know? Because He did it for me and if He can do it for someone like me, He can do it for you too.
