Allergies

​Allergies are weird stuff and I have been in denial for years.
 
I never had much trouble with allergies growing up and in my young adult life. Never a problem for me. I didn’t know how lucky I was.
 
My friends? Not so much. Runny noses, watery eyes, sneezing, coughing, lost voices. The whole nine.
 
I just didn’t know how lucky I was. 
 
Until now.  
 
I read something somewhere some years ago that as our body chemistry changes with aging, so do our immunities and defense mechanisms. I was in denial about that, too.
 
Until now.
 
Just the past couple days—maybe it’s the cooler nights? The yellows and the reds are coming out. I’m noticing leaves starting to drop. Cue the Led Zeppelin: “Leaves are falling all around, time I was on my way…”
And here it comes—I’m sure it’s coming. 
 
I get a week in the spring and a week in the fall that’s never really been the same. Like, I can’t point at some severe thing. It varies. But I know it’s coming. 
 
No, it’s not any worse in New Jersey than Oklahoma. Feeling a little stopped up, scratchy throat, a little runny nose. Probably something Benadryl can handle. Just enough to be annoying, never miserable. 
 
Anyway, I still love fall. I love the change of seasons and I usually try to stop several times daily to look for God and what God’s doing. Sometimes I’m listening. Sometimes watching. Sometimes praying (not enough). Sometimes I get through a day or several days without any of it. But mostly I really do try and do that.
 
Even in the allergies! They’re coming. And maybe that is God’s way of slowing me down, reminding me who’s “got this”. Which, to be perfectly honest, is pretty annoying—surely there’s another way to get my attention! 
 
Having said that, if this is all it takes and if this is as bad as it gets, I need to quit whining and get over it. Today’s worry is enough for today. Sound familiar?
 
Fall is here and God’s definitely got this—the rest is up to you and me. 
 
Grace and Peace,
Scott