nuissances -- won't get me down

To use a very cliche phrase -- You have to keep your eye on the prize.
I currently have 4 fever blisters across my lips.  I have 2 more that are starting on my nose.  They suck.  They are gross.  They are annoying.

BUT -- they are temporary.  They will be gone in about a week.  I can bellyache about them and complain about how annoying and itchy they are, but what good does it do?  How is it benefitting my life?

2 years before Cade was born, I woke up at the end of a sinus infection with Bell's Palsy.  Bell's Palsy is a weird and strange virus thing that basically paralyzes half of your face.  I looked like a stroke victim.  It seems that they are linked to fever blisters.  ANNOYING!!!  That trip down Bell's Palsy lane lasted about 2 months.  I got moments where I was very depressed.  I had moments where I wondered if I was ever going to be able to smile right again.

You see, there is nothing really that they can do to FIX Bell's Palsy.  You pretty much have to let it run its course.

In January of my pregnancy with Cade, my Bell's Palsy came back.  The face went paralyzed.  I had no smile.  Steroid treatment can't happen when you are pregnant.  There was going to be a good chance that my face was going to be screwed up through the rest of my pregnancy.  Again I got depressed.  All those happy pregnancy pictures you are supposed to have -- didn't happen.  I had a hideous crooked smile.  One of my youth asked me why my smile was broken.  The day after I gave birth to Cade, my Bell's Palsy went away.  Now because that was 6 months of nerve damage -- I have a droopy eye; I have jumpy nerves in the right side of my face; and if I stretch my face the wrong way, OUCH!!

Every time I get fever blisters, I get scared to death that Bell's Palsy will return.  I practice smiling just in case it goes away.  I constantly blink my eyes, just in case I don't get that luxury (it is another fun ailment associated with BP -- you cannot close your eye and get to wear a pirate patch).

The funny thing about all of this --- It is temporary.  It is a nuissance and annoyance that doesn't last forever.  It is not contagious.  You can't die from it.  You just have a screwed up smile and get to wear a cool pirate patch.  There are things that could be much much worse.

In life, we let things drag us down.  We get bogged down by things that are just temporary -- the zit, the hurt ankle, the friend that won't talk to us, the friend that betrays us.  All of those things will go away.  All of those things are insignificant in the midst of millions of wonderful blessing that occur all the time.

So yeah, fever blisters suck.  I may have a pirate patch and a broken smile if Bell's Palsy comes back.  But I am so blessed that nothing trivial will EVER truly get me down.
AMEN