Out Sick

This is the time of the year when I get an extended break from school and work - three whole weeks! Once on break, it's as if my body rebels against all the demands that I make of it during the semester, and for the second year in a row I find myself sick at year's end. I usually pride myself in mustering through illness or fatigue - one sick day in 10 years of teaching is quite a record (which I proudly recite to any student who is "sick" for the umpteenth time). It's interesting how when sick I become sharply attuned to all my needs. It's indicative that perhaps I'm not as well as I think I am. In a deeper way, it reminds me that Christ came not for those who are well and have no need of a physician, but for those in need of repentance. I hate being sick - it's no fun. But I suppose pretending to be well when I'm really not is much worse.