How to Make God Laugh

They say if you want God to laugh, make plans.

I had big plans for 2017.

That’s the year I was going to clean my house from top to bottom. I was going to go through every cupboard and drawer. Useless items would be thrown out, many things donated to one of our local charities.

But at the Christmas vigil Mass of 2016, we ended up in the choir loft. And some woman up there was coughing and hacking through the entire ceremony. My husband shook hands with her at the Sign of Peace, and that was that.

Two days later, we all got sick. Everybody got over their illnesses—except me.

I just kept getting sicker and sicker. The first doctor diagnosed me as having allergies. The second one was wise enough to take an X-ray and said I had pneumonia.

I started a regiment of antibiotics. Instead of getting better, I got worse. I couldn’t even cross a room without getting out of breath.

I finally ended up in the hospital. And I finally got a correct diagnosis of a rather rare condition called nocardiosis.

You know how, when you have an infection, you take antibiotics for ten days? With nocardiosis, you must take them 365 days.

Fortunately, the pills worked and I started recovering—which was a good thing because this illness can kill you.

In fact, after Thanksgiving of this year, I started feeling so much better that I planned to do in 2018 what I hadn’t been able to do in 2017. Right after all the work of hosting Christmas, I would start in on getting my house nice, neat, and clean.

Yup, if you want God to laugh, make plans.

At Christmas one of our guests showed up with a cold.

You can guess what happened next.

They say whatever God sends you is always what’s best for you. I must admit sometimes it’s hard to see that.

I guess He’s telling me that the house is not all that important. I do have to say that an illness gives me something to offer up for the poor souls in Purgatory who are suffering far more than I am.

My only question now is: Do I dare plan to begin in February what I couldn’t in January?