Porcelain Life Lessons

Porcelain Life Lessons
by Audrea Vann Medina on Friday, August 13, 2010 at 10:13pm

I'm the type of person who looks for lessons in every situation. I know God has some major branches to prune from my life, and none of us are perfected or complete until the day we're called home to heaven if our names are in the Lamb's Book of Life. My physical body, though, longs for that day, the day where, perhaps, I'll not need a small bowel.

I think about lessons in light of today where nothing I put in my mouth stayed. After running to the bathroom for about the 10th (or more) time today, I'm exhausted. My stomach is still churning, my rear end, as you can well imagine, is rawer than a newborn baby's raw, the gas seeping out is so toxic we've all resorted to plugging our noses and counting to 10 before we breathe, and my spirits are less than ecstatic.

What lesson(s) can I take from all these potty trips that will get my mind back on things above?

• The first one I think of is that God's design for the human body is flawless. I never knew much about the human body or how things work (you'll remember back to my brother, Elliott, sending me diagrams about the female cycle, etc. when I was pregnant for the 3rd time in 3 years), but now, I'm intrigued. I see why so many are so fascinated by the medical field. God's design of each of us is perfect and faultless (even if something in our body doesn't work quite right when we're born), and it boggles my mind that anyone could memorize all of the body organs/functions and think we happened by accident or evolved from some big booming bang of matter. I've got more respect for myself than that. Our human, and finite minds, even the most brilliant and intellectual, could not have created anything more ideal. Even the great scientific minds of today, bursting with knowledge, can only attempt to replicate, or clone, what already exists. And that, on a completely other subject, is treading very dangerous ground.
• This brings me to my second lesson. Science and technology are wonderful tools of the human mind (gifted from God) when used to advance and protect life. I'm so thankful to be living during this time because had this trauma happened even 50 years ago, I probably would have died. TPN, the stuff I gripe and complain about because it chains me to itself and is my master for 14 hours a day, is sustaining the very breath I breathe. If I'd had to rely solely on what I could feed myself, I'd wither away in a matter of weeks. Because of medical advances, medicine, and a careful combination of surgery and care, I'm alive to testify to the positive side of medicine.
So, I guess what I'm telling myself tonight, is that the next time I let out a gas bomb which sends us all running for cover, I should stop and take a big gagging whiff and tell my family we should all be thankful I'm still here to blow! Ha.

Well, on a serious and less elementary note, I find myself, once again, ending cheerfully, now that I've put things into eternal perspective. And, I must apologize if I've offended any delicate sensibilities with my potty talk, though it is hard not to when all of my issues stem from what's missing from my small bowel!
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