Devotion 74, Day 26 Post Transplant

The nurse brought another cup of pills. Take with food. Plenty of water. More are coming. Take this dose of four capsules so the next dose has time between. I neglected my morning pills until 1:15 p.m. and then, I want to ring the nurse so that she is standing by in case I choke on the big ones. But I don't ring the nurse. I slowly and carefully take one pill and then the next. And I hear myself say a loud "Thank you God," when I have swallowed the pills down.

Dutifully, I cautiously swallow and thank God for the accomplishment.

Why is swallowing pills so difficult? Maybe it is legions of meals with my mother drilling, "chew your food." More than anything my mother could have said, my body knows that teeth chew, tongue and saliva process, esophagus opens, epiglottis flops over the windpipe and the morsel goes down the hatch. When faced with a pill, my body is asked to suspend disbelief. Bypass taste, sensation, and the chew. Just swallow and get it right the first time or choke. There are times when a pill is in my mouth and I'm trying to swallow and I keep water flushing in the mouth through my lips and the pill is sliding beneath the tongue, against the teeth and just not finding the water slide to destination gut.

Considering my struggle with pill taking lends new meaning to I Corinthians 15:54 When the perishable has been clothed with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality, then the saying that is written will come true: Death has been swallowed up in victory.

Victory will suspend all disbelief. Death will be like the pill in the med cup. No chew, no taste, no smell nor sensation. Victory will make the big gulp swallow without a choke. Going down smooth with a chaser of living water. The image of death swallowed is graphic. We all know what happens next -- death, once swallowed is pulverized by stomach acids, digestion, and pooped as solid waste.

Whenever I looked up the word swallow in the dictionary and Hebrew text, I kept seeing reference to the bird. Perhaps the the bird and process of ingestion are more interchangeable than may be seen at first glance. Swallowed up in victory is surely bird taking wing.

Thank you for quieting my heart in this place from which I am waiting to escape that your glory be revealed once more and my feet set upon the path of your devotion.