Wait for the Alcohol to Work

How’s that for a title!?!  But it’s not what you would think ;)

I’ve been reading in the old testament through the kings.  I don’t know about you but that is a tough read for me.  “This king took over, he reigned blah blah years, he did evil and he died……that king took over, he reigned blah blah years…..and so on.”  Most of the kings were evil, worshiping idols and following in the footsteps of the king before them.  But every once in a while there would be a king who would want to do good and the bible would even say that he did “what was right in the eyes of the Lord.”  Most of those kings however had that statement follow by something to the effect that they tried but they did not remove all the idols or they followed God but not fully.   They did not follow through and do ALL of the work, just most.

This got me thinking about another boring passage in the bible (in my opinion) where there are a bunch of rules concern cleanliness and such and they tell you how to get mold out of your house.  Yep it’s in there, people!  The bible has EVERYTHING!  Anyway, they talk about cleaning but then shutting the house up for something like seven days and then opening it back up and checking and if it wasn’t gone then try again and if it still isn’t gone then tear the house down because it will never be clean.  Doing the work until the end and then possibly having to start fresh.

And then that got me thinking about alcohol swabs.  You’re welcome for taking you on this crazy journey of how my mind works!  Haha!  We used many, many alcohol swabs in caring for Laila and they definitely did at the hospital as well.  During one of Laila’s last hospital stays I was talking with one of our nurses about her protocol.  She was one of the only ones that would wipe the line clean with an alcohol swab and then stare at the clock to wait at least 15 seconds before reattaching it.  I always remembered her staring at the clock, and the other nurses would clean it quickly and then just immediately reattach the line.  She told me that they did a training one time where they cleaned something with the alcohol swab and then immediately looked at it under the microscope and there was still a ton of bacteria but then they looked again 15-30 seconds later and most of it was gone.

Waiting for the alcohol to dry and do it’s job was what killed the bacteria, not just the simple act of wiping it…….

And that rabbit trail comes around to me relating that to my grief and my life in general.  I want this grief process to be over.  I want to do the things I need to do and I want to do them quickly and I want to feel better.  I don’t want to wait for the process.

I want to figure out there is a sin in my life and I want to deal with it and I want to feel better and never be tempted again and move on.  Could life just be perfect and could that come quickly and not involve a lot of work, please?!?!?  Yeah…. that’s not really how it works, huh.

I need to realize things take time.  People grieve, people mess up, people sin and I need to do the work on my part but then I have to be patient and wait for God to work His.  And that is not always quick.  Sometimes it’s a lifetime.

I think about how dangerous not waiting on that alcohol on Laila’s line to dry could be to her system and I’m thankful that reveals in my mind that being too quick to process something in my life could be harmful as well.  I may think it’s all well and good but there may be something waiting under the surface that I haven’t let process and heal.  I want true, lasting, healing from whatever it may be that I’m struggling with in this life.  I want a quick fix….. but then again I don’t.

This world is tough, Amen?!?!  I’m thankful we have a loving Father in heaven who sympathizes with us because He was here.  He knows.  He lived it and died so that we could live with Him one day, away from all this mess and heart ache.

Is there something you want a quick fix on, to just feel better?  I’m praying with you on that today.  Praying we can all be patient for God’s timing and healing and that we see Him clearly in the process.