Enjoying What We can See
My wife's sister, Miriam, suffers from Huntington's disease, a rare genetic
disorder that causes rapid mental and physical deterioration. Doctors who treat
thousands Huntington's patients are amazed at how slowly this awful disease is
growing in Miriam's body. The reasons are numerous-a loving husband and family,
a positive attitude that never ceases to amaze us, and perhaps most noticeably,
an easy laugh. Those who have every reason to cry and yet - choose to laugh seem
to have a jump start on life. "Miriam's - attitude," a doctor told her husband,
Jim, "has reduced the symptoms of Huntington's by 50 percent."
"It seems that your belief in a higher power has helped you," a psychologist
said to Miriam and her husband one day. Miriam smiled. "That would be God," she
said.
Hers is the laughter of one who has discovered the fine art of living: enjoying
what we can see and not complaining about what remains in the dark. Life may be
falling apart at the edges, but not at the core. At the very center, Miriam
knows that she is loved by God, held in His arms, and that He has promised to
her the eternal joys of heaven. She has learned that God gives us enough light
for the next step, so she rejoices in the little light she's given, not asking
for a great spotlight to take all the shadows away.
For Miriam, laughter has plugged the springs of bitterness, put a permanent cork
on tension, and soothed the crippling pain of disappointment.
Callaway, Phil. Who Put My Life on Fast-Forward? Eugene: Harvest House Publishers, 2002, p. 160. www.philcallaway.com