Fevers

We have had a lot of sickness in the house recently. All three of our children were sick at the same time with a cold, but our oldest child had a fever that spiked to 104 multiple times over a 48 hour time period. I'm not one to rush to the doctor as soon as my children show any signs of sickness. But after two days of high fevers, we finally took him in and sure enough, he had a bacterial infection of his tonsils. The antibiotics gave him relief almost immediately.

But during all this time, I spent all my time (night and day) nursing sick little ones. The nights were the hardest. My husband and I would be up every ten minutes sometimes, taking care of one child or another. And during those sleepless hours, feeling their foreheads to judge how high the fever was and just laying next to them to comfort them, I reminded myself of what my parents had done for me.

I can recall so many times when I was sick at home, how comforting it was to me to have my mother or father with me. Even as an adult, I greatly appreciated having my mom check on me throughout the day. My dad, too, would always check in on me before he left for work and one of the first things he'd do when he got home was come see how I was feeling and how the day had gone for me.

My dad's theory was that the best way to tell a temperature was to put your forehead on the forehead of the sick person. It was much more accurate than a hand touch, he'd say. I can't tell you how comforting that was to me, having him lay his forehead on mine, risking contact with some infectious bug in order to feel my fever. His presence or my mom's there with me was more comforting to me than anything else.

So in the dark hours when my own children cried out for some comfort, despite my own exhaustion, I would go. Knowing that my presence with them, my touch on their skin, was more helpful and more comforting to them than a thousand milliliters of Tylenol.

Just like the Lord's presence is a comfort to me in my darkest hours. His touch, His presence near me is the greatest comfort to me. I'm so grateful I have a loving Father near to me that comforts me in my sorrow and affliction. And He gives me the grace to comfort others with the same comfort that I have been given. Time and time again.