Multiple sclerosis may not affect the heart, but it can make
it much harder to follow our hearts into constructive action sometimes. Ask any
parent with MS, and the stories start to spill out:
- Missed opportunities for active family fun
- Canceled parties and special events
- Unplanned postponements of play dates, outings, or vacations
- and more.
This can be heartbreaking. MS doesn’t stop us from wanting
to pursue all sorts of adventures and enjoyable activities with our kids. We
understand about quality time and the importance of building relationships
through such shared moments.
Popular American evangelical pastor Chuck Swindoll (1934
- ), perhaps best known for his
Insight for Living broadcast, expressed the idea thusly:
“Each day of our lives, we make deposits in the memory banks of our
children.”
Even on my most grueling, troublesome MS relapse days, I
want to aim for making constructive memories. Sometimes it’s hard, or almost
impossible, to stay positive in such spells. But it’s the goal.
Occasionally, I find myself praying the Good Lord will keep
optic neuritis, or sudden limb numbness, or nerve pain, or crippling vertigo,
or an MS migraine, or phenomenal fatigue, or a host of other obnoxious symptoms from flipping my
tongue into a carping or complaining downturn. I plead for patience, even
though that may be the riskiest petition of all.
And I pray (nearly daily) that God will blur or erase the
worst memories from my kids’ lives – those times when my attitude took a
nosedive, when my words were less-than-constructive, or when I was unable to
rise to the occasion of building a good memory with my kids.
Perhaps that is one of the secrets of God’s grace.
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