Do you remember the games you used to play as a kid? What was your favorite? Was it playing dress-up or cashier or the politically incorrect Cowboys and Indians? Maybe you formed your own club with a clubhouse and dues that were used to buy candy at the local store. As children, our imaginations ran wild and we thought up all kinds of games to play and stories to tell. We can do the same thing when it comes to living with chronic illness. Chronic illness can be incredibly stressful, and there are times when we don’t know how to respond to something that has shaken up our life. We deny what is happening or we pretend it really isn’t as bad as it seems. It’s almost like a game, trying to keep ahead of the darkness that would descend upon us if we stopped and looked our illness in the face. But it isn’t a game. It’s life. It’s our life. The only way to beat the darkness is to confront it and ask God to help us walk in His light.
Last week in the post “Living in the Light,” I wrote that we can choose to live in the light of Christ instead of allowing ourselves to be swallowed up by the darkness. The Holy Spirit helps us renew our thoughts and attitudes as well as put on a new nature that is created to be like God – righteous and holy. The Apostle Paul, the author of Ephesians, continues on with that thought in verse 25. It reads, “What this adds up to, then, is this: no more lies, no more pretense. Tell your neighbor the truth. In Christ’s body we’re all connected to each other, after all. When you lie to others, you end up lying to yourself.”