The ARDS Foundation - Body, Mind, & Spirit

By Pastor Ian

Tough Times Never Last!

I was looking through a small bundle of photos this week and came across one of a small boy about 3 years old. By the look of the mischievous smile on his face he was having a great time and had only stopped for a second to have his picture taken before moving on to another great adventure. How wonderful to have that age of innocence back again in our lives, when time was measured by sunrise and sunset. Those of us who have faced life in ICU trying to overcome the onslaught of ARDS in our bodies would have given all we possessed to regain the childlike innocence and bodily fitness with which we were once blessed. Looking back over a life-changing period of time like the one I have just mentioned, even sunrise and sunset become merged into a blur in the early stages of the ARDS illness. It is a bruising experience. Yet, believe it or not, it can also be an empowering experience for some. Our outlook on life, and possibly those close to us, is forever changed.

Dr Robert H. Schuller wrote: “You can’t escape the raw realities of life, but you can shape them!…A bridge cannot handle all the traffic that passes over it at one time. Bridges are designed to handle moving traffic. So faith is designed to handle anxieties, one at a time. Deal with only your immediate pressures. Let tomorrow’s worries wait until then. If anxieties and worries still remain after prayer, then (let) faith replace them.”

Is that perhaps good advice which we also should follow?

There is a story told: At the very top of a high mountain there was a monastery. The monks were very rarely seen in the village below, but the people there held them in high esteem. One day, one of the monks trekked down the mountain to the village. An excited villager, honored to meet such a holy person, struck up a conversation. “Father, surely yours is the best of all lives, living so close to God up in the clouds on the top of the mountain.? Tell me, what do you do up there?” After a thoughtful pause, the monk replied, “Well, I’ll tell you, its difficult, we fall down and we get up. We fall down and we get up again. We fall down, but with God’s help, we keep getting up.”

Some unfortunately fall, and even with all of our prayer they are unable to rise again and are taken from us leaving us heartbroken. Others receive the miracle of healing in whole or in part. As an ARDS patient support person you are called to provide as much prayer and encouragement as you can for your loved one or friend during their crisis times and recuperation. During the months that follow they will often experience feelings like the monk, and hopefully, with encouragement from you, will keep ‘getting up.’

A little time after the picture of the little boy was taken he broke both of his arms. They were bound and placed in slings, severely restricting his movement. It was a tough summer that year yet, as Dr Schuller would have said, “Tough times never last but tough people do.” The little boy grew up and managed to break other bones from time to time. He even survived ARDS. I’ll leave you to guess his name.