Good test results

I opened a drawer in my desk the other day and it got stuck. It was jammed. I had been throwing things in it for the past year without much thought. The jam was fate telling me “enough was enough.”

I needed to start cleaning house. No better time than the present. I pulled out a couple of books that needed to go on a shelf. And then I came across an old notebook. As I leafed through it, I found some old notes from work that I didn’t need anymore. If Jim in Accounting doesn’t know about the project launch and the cutover to the new technology, it’s too late now.

Chicken-scratch ramblings

I almost threw the notebook in the trash. In fact, I started to, but picked it back up. For some reason, I continued to leaf through it. In the back, I came across a section that I used as a journal. There were only seven or eight entries. I wrote about how my work demands were getting me down. On another day, I wrote about how my marathon training was falling off a cliff. Oh, no surprise there. I’ve run two marathons in my life and both were challenging.

Finally, I came across a journal entry from September 30, 2004. The date caught my attention right away. The note was about our youngest son. He had been born earlier in the year and we were still getting used to the challenges of being a family of five. We had taken him to his four month doctor’s check-up and received great news.

Rest assured

The doctor’s words came at a good time. We had been worried about how our son regularly curved his back when he was nursing. He seemed to be in pain. We worried about him having several different serious spinal related or digestive maladies. In the end, though, it turned out to be nothing. A false worry.

My brain is an assortment of dates and memories. I have to think hard about what I ate this morning. It’s only been a few hours, but I’m challenged by the question. However, the journal entry helped prod the neural pathways in my brain. The twenty-one year-old memory came back as fresh as a daisy.

I remembered the antiseptic smell of the exam room. I remembered the smile on the pediatrician’s face as he walked in the room. I remembered how he held out the test results declaring the good news. And most importantly, I remembered him telling us that our son would be fine.

The news felt like a 10-ton elephant had been lifted off our shoulders. It was glorious news. We could breathe again.

Living life one moment at a time

In my two decade old note to myself, I wrote: “Thank you Jesus. Yes, thank you for standing with us and helping us through life’s challenging moments.”

Fast forward to today, the journal entry still makes me feel good. It reminded me that challenges come and go and there’s nothing better than getting good news.

Hallelujah.