Taking Medicine

I may be the daughter of a nurse, but I am the worst medicine taker. My mom would start prepping me 2 hours before by saying, "Catherine, you'll need to take some medicine before you go to bed." I knew I couldn't run from it or slow down time. I would temporarily stop breathing every time she repeated those words throughout the 2 hours.

When the time came, there I sat at the kitchen table with the medicine in front of me, scared to open my mouth. My mom was very patient as I slowly built up enough courage to swallow. It was all quite a scene - one for which I should have gotten an academy award, except I wasn't acting. When I swallowed, you would have thought I was dying from instant poison. I gagged and carried on so! As I did my mom would encourage me, "Hurry!! Drink some water! Eat a cracker! Swallow, swallow, swallow!!"

Then when it was all said and done - 2 hours of prep, 15 minutes of sitting in front of the medicine, and then finally swallowing, my mom would say, "See. That wasn't so bad." Then came the dreaded words, "Now that was only half. You need to take a little more." I certainly had worked myself into a frenzy all for a tablespoon or 2 of medicine.

I was talking to my mom on the phone the other day. She heard me cough and said, "Do I need to come up there and give you some medicine?" I'm happy to say I'm a little better at taking medicine and can do it on my own now, but when I heard those words again, I temporarily stopped breathing.

Why do we resist things that are good for us? I knew the medicine was necessary and beneficial in the long run, however I had a hard time getting past the short term discomfort.

When I look at the decisions I make, do I think long term or am I discouraged by the short term discomfort? When asked to follow God as a Benedictine Sister, I had to face some immediate fears in order to reach long term health and happiness. Immediate fears such as "What will my friends think?" "What about MY plans?" "What all will I be giving up?" "What exactly am I opening myself up to?" "Who else my age is doing this?" I had to swallow all those fears, knowing in the long run that this is where God wants me.

God will only lead us to happiness. On our path toward God, there's only good medicine that will lead us to a more healthy and happy life. Are we brave enough to receive it and see past our fears so that we may experience more fullness of life?