“Anyone alive has hope - even a live dog is better off than a dead lion.” ~ Eccles 9:4
This trip would’ve been bad enough
without the added stress of nearly missing her last-minute flight. Carly was on
her way to visit her sister Dana who’d suffered 2nd and 3rd-degree
burns on her face and chest from an explosion at the university’s research lab.
Lucky to have
survived, Dana was currently undergoing treatment in a leading burn hospital. Carly immediately booked a flight to see her
but wasn’t sure she was ready to now. Dana’s disfiguring scars would be
extensive, but the emotional scars could prove even more devastating.
Would she be able
to keep her composure in front of her sister? How would this change Dana’s life?
More importantly, what comfort could she possibly bring her sibling?
Once on board, Carly
practically threw herself into the middle seat. She attempted an apology to the
passenger she crawled over, but her voice caught before uttering a word. The
woman’s face and neck were patched with burn scars.
“I’m going to visit
my sister,” Carly said, her anxiety soaring as though forced to confront Dana’s
injuries before she even arrived there. Carly tried not to stare.
“Lord,” she tensed
silently. “Not this. Please not now.”
“Sounds like fun!”
the woman said.
She didn’t know
why, but all at once she felt compelled to tell this passenger the truth about her
journey. She wanted to pour everything out to this stranger… her fears, doubts,
and insecurities.
“Actually,
my sister was badly burned in an accident,” Carly said expecting an awkward reply.
“I’m Jess,” the
woman confided and shared the story of how she’d sustained severe burns as a
teenager. To paraphrase Ecclesiastes,” she continued, “It’s better to be a disfigured,
living dog than to be a dead lion.” Carly then offered the details of
Dana’s accident and injuries.
Sensing Carly’s unease, Jess went on. “Don’t underestimate
the strength of her spirit,” she said. “Dana may carry scars from her wounds,
but she’ll heal.” Jess described her own recovery path and how despite her
injuries, she emerged stronger than before.
“It’s not that I’m proud of my scars,” Jess confessed. “They
are what they are, born of accident and necessity. But I’m not
embarrassed by them, either. I relish the stories they tell.”
Her words lifted Carly’s fear and worry. Of all the people she
could’ve been seated next to.
Her new friend offered a reassuring hug as they parted ways
at the airport gate. “It’s not going to be easy,” Jess said, “but your sister
will make it through this. And so will you.”
Carly’s trepidation vanished. God knew exactly what she
needed. And so had Jess.
Faith isn’t a magical amulet
that protects us from tough situations. It connects us to those who suffer.
“Lord, make me an instrument of your peace. Grant
that I may not so much seek to be consoled as to console; to be understood as
to understand; to be loved as to love, Amen.” ~ St. Francis
