Leah Improves

I heard from Leah Friedman this week. You may recall that she has a heart problem, and that she went into respiratory arrest and suffered oxygen deprivation to her brain. She has been recovering well, but she still has some language problems, and she has paralysis in her left arm and hand. Thankfully, she no longer walks with a cane.

She has been so upbeat in her communications that I didn’t realize she still had these lingering difficulties.

Leah credits prayer for her recovery, and so do I, and she seems especially grateful for the prayers volunteered by readers of this blog. I’m grateful, too. A lot of fine people show up here every day. Thanks for turning this blog into something that occasionally benefits humanity.

If anyone is still willing to offer a prayer, I feel sure she wouldn’t turn it down.

On the subject of changing things so they turn from harmful to beneficial, I have been trying to work a similar change in myself over the last couple of years, and I highly recommend it. I can’t explain it, but when you focus too much on doing things for yourself, it’s like lying on the couch all day, overeating and drinking beer. You start to feel sated but not satisfied. You start to become conscious that every additional thing you do for yourself adds weight to your burden. On the other hand, turning your efforts outward lightens your load and adds to your peace.

It’s easy to get the idea that all you have to do to make God happy is leave other people alone and accept salvation. But it’s not enough to avoid doing harm. If you’re not actively helping people, you’re missing out on half of the experience. So I’m always–okay, usually–grateful when I get a chance to do something for someone. You can’t help another person without helping yourself. And I have a lot of idle years for which to account. I tried to be good, as I understood “good,” but from my current perspective, I see that I missed opportunity after opportunity.

One of the things I have had on my prayer list for a couple of years (at least) is that I would become less critical and corrosive, and that I would become a person who affects others positively. I was getting sick of myself, to tell you the truth. To some degree, I still am, but I am enjoying the progress.

A reader complained that I seemed crabby since I started trying to improve my relationship with God. I was very surprised. I’ve gone back and looked at things I wrote three or four years ago, and “crabby” doesn’t begin to describe them. Sometimes I’m tempted to delete them, but I think they have a certain amount of value, because they show how things have improved.

Any time you draw closer to God, you’re going to encounter resistance and anger that don’t seem justified. I believe these are signs that you’re headed in the right direction. I think I should try not to take it personally when people react badly. They usually mean well, and they may be under influences they don’t understand.

Anyway, don’t forget Leah. She hasn’t forgotten you.