25th Feb Chemo Day 4

How to live, when life is so cloistered? The smallest activity, the shortest engagement and ill health engages its own prohibition. Though desiring all normality, yet the flesh is so weak that all normality is beyond reach. Sometimes a day feels almost like a non-day, nothing really happening nothing particularly achieved. Simply surviving the battle for health and life for one more day… and yet surely there is more to life than this?

What value has a day? Surely there is nothing greater, even when there is nothing other, than love! And yes our love for God is strong, our confidence in him is full and our determination to seek his favour, seek his pleasure is unquestionable. Our love for one another is a precious gift from God defined in the traditional wedding vow… ‘To have and to hold from this day forward, for better for worse, for richer for poorer, in sickness and in health, to love and to cherish, till death us do part.’ 1 Corinthians 13v2 says ‘if I have a faith that can move mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing.’ Surely the love of God together with our love for other people defines who we are rather than simply what we do no matter how altruistic. So, though confined, as we have the love of God as a foundation for our lives we have everything!

Last night was not too bad for Jane as her breathing improved and she was able to sleep quite well. Unfortunately when she woke at a near normal time she was coughing quite badly to clear her lungs. Through the day though her breathing and coughing has been pretty much OK which is great. The pains in her chest and back causing so much of a problem last week are trying to gain a foothold again. We pray that whatever is causing them will be healed in Jesus name!

James made us a gorgeous trifle… organic strawberries and cream in abundance! Oh yes maybe life is worth living after all… and we finished the day off with a movie, Kenneth Branagh’s version of Shakespeare’s ‘As you like it’ set in Japan. We always enjoy our Shakespeare DVD’s although the first ten minutes, until we get used to, it is like watching world cinema without sub-titles!

John 10v10 ‘I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full’ (NIV)