Pain As A Passport

I’ve preached that title—using pain as a passport to influence places you’d never voluntarily go to. To be fair I’m sure I heard it elsewhere, fit something I was working on so I used it.

Though I knew what it meant—watching it firsthand it is altogether different.

Nicole was admitted Tuesday for round 5 of chemo. When she arrived to her room a nurse said to her, “Apparently you’re a celebrity up here because all the nurses want you.” Knowing Nicole, I’m sure she dismissed it as a kind gesture toward a woman who’s homesick with cancer.

While Nicole is one of the more upbeat people I’ve been around, reality is these chemo regimens wear on her—physically but also mentally. She’s an extremely involved mom volunteering at school and taking girls on many adventures. It’s very hard for her to sit in a room for 6 days feeling low away from home—missing out on some our kids’ events.

But the nurse was onto something.

Though this may be the last place Nicole wants to be, she calls each nurse by name taking an interest in their life. She’s brought her running gear (that she so desperately misses using) to give to another nurse who’s running her first marathon.

While the tears may come as we approach this building, a team of nurses celebrates an arrival of their friend.

Jesus’ little brother wrote: Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. - James 1:2-4

Joy doesn’t negate pain, if you were to offer to sneak Nicole home—she’d take you up on it. Joy isn’t absence of discomfort, it’s a conscious choice to transcend the current circumstances and use the pain as a passport to spread joy in places you wouldn’t voluntarily go.

I’m proud my girl has chosen that passport.