Easy Does It

Is it weird to say that I am excited that today I get to reflect on my Leukemia days?  Probably. But nevertheless…

Back when I had Leukemia (shout out to God that i can say “had”), I had a pic-line in my arm for administering meds and chemo and for taking out my blood for testing. I got my blood tested 3 times a week when I wasn’t in the hospital and at least once a day when I was doing my 6 day chemo session in the hospital. I loved my pic-line. Really. It was annoying and ugly and I have little scars on my arms that look like I was bitten by a vampire, but still. There were a few times in the hospital that it had to be taken out and cultured and that really stunk. What that means is that I had to give blood the old- fashioned way; with a needle. Sometimes I had to have an IV. 9 months later I still have bruises on my arms from being poked so often in the beginning of my treatment; pre-pic line. Anyway-enough reflecting on all that. What I want to talk about is a thought that occurred to me every time I had to have the dressing changed on said pic line. It was quite a process. It had to be done every Wednesday, and only Wednesday. No clue why. So, after the nurse takes my old dressing off, using her hands adorned with a sterile pair of latex gloves and both of us wearing masks so as not to breath germs into the open hole, she would clean the area with alcohol and let it sit until it dried. Naturally. It had to be completely dry before we could put the new bandage over it. I think it took about a minute to dry, but let me tell you, it felt like forever. Wasted time. We both had to just sit there and wait. It took everything I had to not blow on it or wave my hand back and forth and FORCE it to dry faster. Doing so, however, could contaminate the site and possibly cause a serious or deadly infection. All we could do was sit, watch, and wait for it to dry on its own. And THIS is when I was reminded of a wonderful recovery principle that I love and hate at the same time. I love it because it works and hate it because it’s really really hard to do. Here it is: “Easy does it”. Sometimes, “while hard doesn’t work, easy often does.” This is the softer way of telling me not to FORCE a solution. We have all heard the saying, “don’t just sit there! DO Something!!” .  Well, this tool would advise that sometimes it might be better if we applied a different slogan; “Don’t just do SOMETHING! Sit there!”.  When we try to FORCE a solution before its’ time, we often bypass the best that God has for us and possibly make things harder and more complicated than if we had been patient. This slogan also suggests that it’s possible that the problem we are trying to solve may not even be OUR problem. Now there’s a new thought, eh?  Am I minding my own business or the business of someone else?

“Easy does it” suggests that “we may not have all the answers today. This is not a failure, only a reality, It is not always our job to solve every problem. Perhaps we are expecting too much of ourselves or others. In fact, we may know everything we need to know for this day. If and when the time is right, MORE WILL BE REVEALED.” (From “How Al-Anon works). Oh. I just love that. MORE WILL BE REVEALED. It sounds so mysterious. It reminds me that there is a Power, who I call God, that is far bigger and greater and wiser than me who has my situation under control.  And He will reveal to me what I need to know and do when the time is right for me to know it and do it. Maybe that’s why He tells me that His way is easy and His burden is light. When I try to carry it all myself and figure it all out and force a solution using my own measly power-everything just gets harder. If you have been making your own life harder, maybe today would be a good time to give this a go-because when “harder” isn’t working out so well, “easy” often does.