germs and love

the current thought to ponder (sidebar): "Have you ever imagined a world with no hypothetical situations?"

hmm, that kind of fits what i want to say today...

have you ever imagined a world where the love flowed truly free, and nobody ever *ever* held it back for personal reasons?

i'm actually thinking of a particular example.

have you ever imagined a world where people will freely embrace a leper, tend to a bleeding person without fear, or hug a sick person worries of getting sick themselves?

i confess, i am a hugger. (yeah, big surprise, eh?) ...and God challenged me early on in my walk - would i embrace the leper with NO thought to my own well being? why, yes, Lord! (thinking of the leper colonies overseas where mother teresa worked away).... "leper" meaning anyone rejected, because they have a life that is not pleasant? ...yes, Lord, i will! "leper" meaning anyone who is smelly, has cooties, or is in any way contagious? ...Lord, i am willing. "leper" meaning someone who has head lice and you have your precious dreads? OUCH, Lord! but yes.... lol.

(just fyi on the last one, God tested me on that this september, when a friend's son thought he had head lice... and the thought just kept running through my "Lord, i don't want to love him any different, Lord, i don't want to love him any different!!!" lol.... i think i did ok. :) ...oh, and i did *not* get head lice!)

anyways, the one i'm thinking of today is anything contagious. it is firm in my spirit, i will not *ever* NOT hug someone because they are contagious!

to me it is the saddest thing ever to see a person who is sick, and in need of some extra TLC, and people say, "ew, stay away from me!" it grieves me, actually. so when a person is sick, i will walk right up to them and hug them, or like i did to my friend dana a coupla weeks ago, gave her a big smackeroonie on the face (close enough to the mouth to make my point but *not* hitting it! *giggles*) and said, "God's in control of whether i get sick or not, i'm not afraid of your germs!"

someone might say, "yeah, but you are sick now, so what does that prove?"

it proves that with all the sick people i make a point to hug, and this being the first cold i've gotten all year, points to God's sovereignty. *naner naner*

plus an extra challenge to my spirit: would i kiss someone who's sick on the face again? (and run the *risk* of getting sick again?) ...you bet. this minor illness compared to the continual avowing of my love and care to people? no comparison. it's worth the 'risk'.

but really, is there even a 'RISK'? because i really, truly, believe that i can bathe in germs and not get sick, or i can avoid people like the plague and still get sick, because it all depends on God's sovereign plan. all my efforts and avoidance mean nothing - and all my forays into people's germ-filled personal space mean nothing - when it comes to getting sick... it's all up to God.

now, all that said: my reason for writing this.

i *am* a hugger. i thrive on physical contact. i communicate love through physical touch, and i receive love through physical touch. but while i will go into no man's land on my own behalf, i will not force my germs on others - they are at different places in their walk, and i want to be sensitive to that.

anyways... last night someone wouldn't hug me, and stayed at about a three food distance from me.

and i'll admit, i felt a bit like a 'leper'.... *eww, cooties!*

but this is what i take out of it... i am even more reinforced in the idea that i am going to love on people despite their illness - and potential contagiousness.

because, honestly?... the refusal to hug did not feel like 'just one less hug' (rationalisationable with: 'after all, i got a few other hugs, so i'm good')... it felt more like.... kids on the playground, running away, yelling, *eww, cooties!* .... a form of rejection. understandable, to be sure, but rejection nonetheless.

i think of how many hiv-positive people must be shied away from, and it makes me sad. and OH, how much a hug or touch must mean when they get it unreservedly! how healing it must be!!!

so.... would it be any less healing for someone with a simple cold or flu?

...how sovereign is *your* God?