Pain

I am often asked the question whether or not I have any pain. Each time I have to answer “No.” The only discomfort I experience is at night. Sometimes I have difficulty with muscle cramps in my feet, legs, and hands. The Doctor has pescribed a drug called Baclofen, which is a muscle relaxant. It helps reduce the cramping and muscle tightness. I don’t really like to take this medicine because it has the side effect of making me feel weak and tired the next day, thus interfering with my plans. Which is better: enduring the cramps and having a good day, or relief from the cramps and feeling tired? So, if at all possible, I avoid taking the pill.

 

The most painful thing for me is saying goodbye or farewell to friends and family you know you will never see again. Last week we spent a wonderful week with two “cousins”, Hanneke and Amanda from Holland. They gave us so much love and care, and we laughed and cried together. Today I had to say farewell to another two visitors from the Netherlands who spent 6 days with us: Rev. J. Westerink and his son Marnix from Urk. Rev. Westerink is a retired minister from the CGK denomination in Holland, currently living in Urk, where he last served as their minister. His son Marnix is an elder from the same church, and he works for a company that buys and sells fish to customers worldwide.

 

 

We enjoyed ‘sitting at the feet’ of Rev. Westerink so to speak, as he told stories and experiences from his 45 years of ministry. In a very gentle, fatherly way, he ministered to us from the word of God and in prayer. Marnix did the same. It was painful to say goodbye. I almost don’t want to say ‘hello’ because of the inevitable ‘goodbye’. But as Alfred Lord Tennyson said in his poem In Memoriam:27, 1850:

I hold it true, whate'er befall;
I feel it, when I sorrow most;
'Tis better to have loved and lost
Than never to have loved at all.