This year's pollen season in Vancouver has been especially bad. I've been affected by hay fever since high school, but I've never been so badly affected as this year! My nose was constantly dripping, a simple bike ride turned my eyes all red, I felt sleepy during the day, and for two weeks straight I only slept 5-6 hours per night because the stuffiness and itchiness would wake me up. I'm sure many of you reading this know how I felt!
The ever-present pile of tissues by my bedside…yuck!
I was tempted to feel completely miserable because of my allergies, but having recently learned the idea of praising God for the good and bad, I decided to try and be thankful for my irritated nose and eyes. After all, for some reason God created me and allowed me to have these allergies.
As I thanked God for my allergies, an amazing thing happened in my mind. I began to be aware of how much was not wrong with me! I could walk, sing, dance, breathe, laugh, smile. I suddenly felt I wasn't so afflicted after all. And, because of my allergies keeping me up, I was able to write that email I had been meaning to write but hadn't had the time. I was also able to recommend some allergy-relief strategies to other people.
Thank you God for teaching me this lesson of thankfulness through something as small and simple as hay fever. I know that in the next year I will see and experience much harder things than this, and I hope that I can keep this lesson in mind.
