A Pound Of Cure

“Do not be afraid of sudden terror or of the ruin of the wicked, when it comes, for the Lord will be your confidence and will keep your foot from being caught.” Proverbs 3:25-26

This month’s LOG came to me while I was lying on the kitchen floor with the breath knocked out of me. I was walking around the kitchen counter when I slipped. My feet flew out from under me in cartoon character fashion, and I fell flat onto my back on the tile floor. Judging from the crunch I heard when I hit the floor some bones in there took a beating.

Stella – you remember Stella – had relieved herself between the counter and the refrigerator, a fact that dawned on me slowly as I tried to catch my breath and wondered why my entire backside was wet. She hadn’t done such a thing in months and has not done it since. Only the one time. There’s a story there, too, but for another time.

I haven’t fallen like that in half a century, not since I was a limber, resilient child falling from trees and porches and such. I spent the minutes after I caught my breath repeating, “Jesus. Jesus. Jesus.” An invocation, not an oath. A fall such as the one I took can change your life, and I wanted no part of that. By the time I picked myself up from the floor I was certain I would survive without damage. I dragged around the rest of the day, felt even sorer the next couple of days, and then began to recover. Thank You, Lord, for being a very present help in trouble (Psalm 46:1).

Most of us prefer an ounce of prevention to a pound of cure any day of the week. It’s a good mantra to live by. Yet no matter how careful we are and how diligently we try to avoid trouble there are occasions when we’re sideswiped, rammed from behind, or hit head on. We don’t see it coming and have no chance to avoid it. Boom! There it is.

Chances are good at one time or another in our lives we’ll get a large or small nasty surprise. As one bumper sticker euphemistically says, ‘Stuff Happens’. When it does, a pound of cure is worth its weight in gold, and more importantly, it’s ours for the asking.

 

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