Like much of life, this experience with Leukemia has been one of progressive learning. Either only so much information is released at a time or the mind can only absorb so much, or both. Recently, three revelations have struck us:
1. I underestimated the toll of the higher dose of chemo in this round and the cumulative effect on my body of three rounds of chemo in four months. I am making excellent, ahead of the curve progress, but night sweats, continued difficulty swallowing, and fatigue from engraftment and producing billions of blood cells daily are a greater challenge than expected. I discipline myself with expectation for a quick recovery.
2. With all the focus on quantity of blood cells produced, and the recently explosion of white blood cells in my body, I didn’t realize that most of these are rather immature cells. Comparing the work of a teenage intern to a master craftsman, my cells are doing good work, but not as effectively as they once will. So vulnerability will continue for some time.
3. The real surprise, which I should have figured out, is that when I made the decision to crucify my own sick immune system and replace it with my donor’s, I lost the protection of all my lifetime vaccinations. I will inherit some benefit from my donor’s immune system, but will have to be revaccinated for many childhood and adult diseases. And since my immune system is currently immature, I will have to wait a year before I can have any ‘live’ vaccinations, otherwise I would be susceptible to contracting the actual disease itself.

Isn’t life like this? There is a certain amount of maturity we can grasp at a young age (and so many exceed at this). But either through choice or other limitations, we seem to take a slower route to maturity than would seem necessary. We come across those ‘ah hah’ moments when we say, “Wow, I should have known that already.” Sometimes it is the ‘less mature’ young ones who remind us older ones of the important lessons of life.

Growing up in the image of God is the same way. Some wisdom only comes from a progressively disciplined life of pursuing Him. But much wisdom for daily living and business of life is available with just a little effort and desire to know the one who created you. The best way to Go Light Your World is to cultivate a relationship with THE Light of the world. Be blessed in pursuing that today. It starts with a simple conversation. And watch the friendship progressively grow from there!

Draw near to God and He will draw near to you. James 4:8