In the Weakness of a Sick Body

“Always bearing about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our body.”

2 Corinthians 4:10

I know the weariness of a body that doesn't respond the way it used to, that now demands care where willpower once was enough. The tests, the appointments that keep piling up, the wait for a result that takes too long to come, the medicine that sometimes wears you down more than it heals, for a while. You wish you had the strength you used to have, and you miss yourself, the body that used to do everything without thinking twice.

I haven't come to tell you the illness is good, or that you should be thankful for being this way. I came to remind you that even in a fragile body, one that carries the marks of suffering, that is exactly where I choose to make my life known, more clearly than in a strong body that doesn't need me for anything.

You don't need to pretend to be strong to deserve my presence by your side. In this bed, in this treatment, in this weakness that bothers you even to say out loud, I am already there, caring for you on the inside while your body still fights on the outside, day after day.