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The Sight of Blood

Thinking about a few years ago when i walked into the bathroom to wipe the tush of my then-three-year-old son to discover a toilet full of blood got me thinking... about, well, blood.  Some people faint at the sight of blood.  Some have nearly-physical pangs of an empathetic nature.  Still others have a resolute, lets-get-this-figured-out-and-taken-care-of manner about them.

Blood is the life force - the giver of oxygen to necessary organs, the circuit through which nutrients and chemicals travel the body, and a healer in many ways.  But blood, when not seen, is easy to think of scientifically.  Once it is oozing from the body or collecting in a vial, though, it becomes something a bit more... disturbing... for some.

That day, many years ago, the sight of that blood beneath my small child was a panic-inducing nightmare.  Turns out, he has a severe sensitivity to digesting dairy.  Cease panic.  Phew!

Other days, while restraining my youngest child over the course of dozens of blood draws in the four short years she has been alive, the sight of blood is a necessary fight to get information from her body.  How is her thyroid doing?  Are her meds still working?  Will her body heal in time and become "normal?"


Then, however, my mind goes to the blood we women deal with monthly.  For many, it is a disturbance of our regular lives, an interruption in our rhythms, and even a nuisance.  For others, like my sister, the lack of bleeding each month is a sad reminder of what the body isn't willing or capable of doing... at least, for now.

Or the blood that meant the end of a life that was not to be... the life my body wasn't going to bring into the world after all.  The blood that was a purging of someone i would not get to meet this side of Heaven.  And to that end, i remember the blood that was expelled from my body when each of my three living children was born.  The blood that nourished and grew them into the babies i could hold and snuggle and play with.  That blood, while still slightly disturbing in its sheer quantity, was almost reverent blood.

Reverent Blood.  That takes my mind to the Blood of Christ.  Not a concept i was grateful to have pushed upon me as a new Believer, but one i embrace today with a bit more clarity.  This is Blood that grows us, covers us, washes us, purifies us, and claims us.  Reverent Blood.  Jesus' Blood.  Holy Blood.

The sight of blood is a unique experience for each of us.  What's yours?

Comments

  1. KarenOctober 25, 2010 at 11:50 AM

    I was browsing and came across you blog about blood. I was intrigued to say the least. But on all comments I have to agree. I had never thought about anyone of your mentioned scenerios but all are true. The most amazing it the blood shed for each one of us by our Lord and Savior. As a 1st-2nd grade Sunday school teacher I am forever trying to find a way to explain this to them where they can fully understand it, but you know what I'm not sure I fully understand it and might not until I'm on the other side.

    Thanks for you musings, they caused me to think as well.

    ReplyDelete
  2. AngieOctober 25, 2010 at 12:39 PM

    Karen, thanks for stopping by! i agree - teaching about the blood Christ shed of us is a difficult thing. My children "know" it, meaning they can regurgitate the information, but i think it takes a LOT of growing in Christ to fully comprehend what it means.

    Good luck teaching those little ones about it - God often teaches me through the education of my children. :^)

    ReplyDelete

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