I felt so sorry for my mom. Not only because strange things seem to happen to the both of us, but because she was in pain.
Back in the early ’80’s, we had a wood stove in the basement. I have previously talked about how my mom was the only one who tended to it. It wasn’t that I didn’t want to help. I asked her several times to show me how, but each time, she answered, “No!”
Why? Because I was a typical teenage girl. She knew my mind would be on boys, school drama and homework. Then I asked if I could at least help by carrying in some wood. Again, she answered, “No!”
In all fairness, she was well aware that I was a klutz. You see, the wood had to be carried down concrete basement steps. Not a good scenario for me.
One day after she came up from tending the stove, she began to complain about her eye hurting. For the record, mom is a tough lady. It takes a lot for her to complain, so I knew something was very wrong. It continued for the next couple of days. Her eye became red. Obviously, it was being irritated by something. I looked into her eye a couple of times and couldn’t see anything. She said every time she closed her eyelid, she felt a sharp pain.
Finally, she couldn’t take it any longer and visited the doctor. What he found blew us all away. While she was tossing wood into the stove, a small wooden splinter had flown up into her face and somehow embedded itself into her eyelid. The backside of her eyelid. Every time she closed her eye, the splinter scratched it.
“Thou hypocrite, first cast out the beam out of thine own eye; and then shalt thou see clearly to cast out the mote out of thy brother’s eye.” Matthew 7:5 (KJV)
I heard a bible teacher make the comment that exaggeration was used a lot during Jesus’ time as a way to make a point. It works well in this verse. It’s easy to nitpick and find wrong with others while not looking inwardly at our own issues and sins. Maybe we should take a good look at ourselves before we judge others. We may be surprised what has embedded itself into our hearts.
The doctor numbed my mom’s eye and plucked the splinter out of her eyelid. Then he medicated it and placed a patch over the eye for a few days so it could heal.
During this time, she had a party for a friend who was selling something. I don’t remember what it was now, but all of her guests bought something. One of them finally said, “I don’t need anything, but she looks so pitiful with her eye patch.”
Brooke Cox is an author, speaker, and storyteller. She was a 2016 Selah Awards Finalist for Debut Novel. Her children’s book: “Dinosaur Eggs,” is now available. It is based on Ephesians 6: The Armor of God. Her novel “Until the Moon Rises: A Conniving Cousin Mystery” is also available. Also, she has two books out in her storytelling series: “Saucy Southern Stories.” The Amazon links for her books may be found on her website: brookecoxstories.com. Please feel free to contact her. She would love to hear from you.