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Out To Pastor
I am finally in what I think is the last phase of my recent health confusion. My nose is dripping, and I think I use at least one box of tissues daily.
When I was young, I remember having a bad case of this kind of thing, and I asked my mother, “Mom, where does all my snot come from?”
I had never seen my mother as angry as she was then. She looked at me and growled, “Son, I never want to hear you say that word again. We do not use the word ‘snot’ in our house. We use the phrase, ‘nasal fluids’. If you ever say the word ‘snot,’ you will be in more trouble than you have ever been in your life. Do you understand me?”
This phenomenon makes it very difficult to go out in public. I am sneezing, and my nose is running all the time. To go out, I have to take a half-dozen boxes of tissues.
When I think I have mastered my nose and nasal fluids, I take a deep breath, and before I am done, that fluid is running out of my nostril faster than ever before. What does it take to satisfy my nose?
I have reached the point where I do not feel the fluid flowing out of my nostril. Because of that, I do not know if it is running down my face and dripping off my chin. What an embarrassing situation that is.
As always, The Gracious Mistress of the Parsonage has somewhat of a solution for my dilemma.
One morning, she looked at me and said, “Why don’t you wear a mask? Nobody will see anything about that because everybody is familiar with masks these days.”
This is the most brilliant thing she has ever told me. I never thought of wearing a mask, which would prevent people from seeing what is going on behind the mask.
One day I tried it, and it seemed to work, except when I got home and took off the mask, it was filled to the brim with my nasal fluid. How all of that stayed in my mast without overflowing is something I will never know. But at least nobody could see I was wrestling with this kind of problem.
Recently, I have been taking about a half-dozen masks when I go anywhere. I try to change my mask every hour, at least. That way, my nasal fluids do not overflow my mask, and nobody sees my problem.
Being able to cover up a problem, especially my problem, is a challenge.
I must confess that I am not very good at covering up any of my problems. No matter how much I try, the Gracious Mistress of the Parsonage can always see through my endeavors.
My biggest challenge is dealing with the world. There is one verse that gives me comfort and encouragement. “For whatsoever is born of God overcometh the world: and this is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith. Who is he that overcometh the world, but he that believeth that Jesus is the Son of God?” (1 John 5:4-5).
My faith in Jesus Christ is what enables me to overcome the world around me. When I try to do this by my own cleverness, guess what? I always fail. My great challenge is to trust God when any problem comes my way.
Dr. James L. Snyder lives in Ocala, FL with the Gracious Mistress of the Parsonage. Telephone 1-352-216-3025, e-mail [email protected], website www.jamessnyderministries. com.
