My tiny daughter Adilyn was born with a birth
defect; a pelvic kidney. This means that her right kidney, rather than being
deep in her body where it usually grows, is located in her lower right pelvis.
Also, with the unusual location came other defect; urinary reflux in that
kidney.
At first
when I found out about her kidney, I worried about the repercussions it would
have on the rest of her life. Would she need a new kidney? Would she only have one kidney that worked?
Could she play sports?
I was
extremely relieved to find that all she needed to do for the time being was to
take antibiotics every morning to prevent infection. It is a simple thing to do in order to
prevent potentially devastating consequences such as kidney scarring.
When I think about this small and simple thing,
bringing to pass great goodness of a healthy, working kidney, I realize something
about myself. Actually, I realized something
about all of us; all of God’s children.
We all came to this Earth with a birth defect; we
are fallen. This means that we sin, we
are prideful, we judge, we get mad, we covet, we do all sorts of things that
distance us from our Father in heaven.
Because we are fallen we are subject to natural man.
When we think about this too much we get worried
about what it could mean for our lives on this Earth but also eternally. Will I
ever become perfect? Is good enough
really good enough? How do I get better?
You and I can all be relieved to know that there is
also a daily antibiotic that we can take to keep this natural man at bay. The
Great Physician has given us a prescription for daily prayer and scripture
study.
Just as I know what my daughter need to stay
physically healthy and strong, our loving Father in heaven knows what we need.
He knows us better than we do and we must trust in His guidance and in His Son’s
example in order to fulfill our incredible spiritual potential.
My daughter doesn’t know why she takes her
medicine. It’s possible that I could
forget one day and she would be fine, but what if that was the day that she got
an infection. We can forget to read the
scriptures sometimes, but what if that day is the day that a spiritual
infection begins. We just don’t know.
All we can do is to do our best to take our medicine and press forward with a
perfect brightness of hope.
Who knew a little 15 month old could teach me all
that?
