Heavenly Tylenol

A couple of years ago, I had given Sam (then 8 years old) some Motrin for a konked head, and it made him feel better. A few nights later he had a bumped and bruised elbow from a soccer fall, and I got out the Motrin to give him -- he said, "No, I don't need the headache medicine, I need elbow medicine!" I explained to him that Motrin would work for him for a headache OR a sore elbow! He thought it was the coolest thing that the medicine would "know where to go...!"

I have thought about this often myself, and I agree, it IS very cool! Just a few days ago, I was sharing Sam's story with a friend, and we laughed and marveled at modern medicine, and how we can get relief wherever the pain is.

At a funeral I attended yesterday, a preacher from another faith was invited to share some thoughts, as he had been a good friend of the deceased. He talked about the exact same thing, but took it a step further! He said that when we take Tylenol, or Advil, or Ibuprofen one day for a headache, it takes care of it. And when we take it the next day for a sore ankle, it takes care of that, too!

He said that God is like those medications. No matter where we are hurting, or why...take Him in, and He'll take care of it. He encouraged the family to draw on that relief right now, in all the unique ways that their own pain might be manifesting itself.

My friend was sitting down the row from me, and we looked at each other and smiled. We had just shared Sam's story a few days before -- and we have both felt His "pain relief" in our lives. It's a true concept: Even though we don't know how to pinpoint the pain sometimes, or understand why we have to hurt, and it hurts in different ways, and we can't make it stop...He knows, and He eases the pain.
 
I'm grateful for Heavenly Tylenol.