The C Word

Has anyone else ever noticed how territorial cable companies are? Each company is assigned a specific region and if you live in X region you get only one choice for cable. I wonder who decides which region each company gets. Do they fight for them? I can just see two CEOs fighting to the death like Spartans or Lions because one of their techs crossed the invisible barrier.

Our new house is in a different prideland region, and we were forced to switch companies. We liked the old company so much that I was tempted to start an all out war by asking them to cross into the new region. Actually, I think Matt might have jokingly asked them to. The new company is not very awesome which is why we chose to switch to the Dish. It's much cheaper and sometimes it even works.

Since we switched, we get free HBO and Showtime for anywhere from the first 48 hrs to 90 days. I don't remember exactly. If you are like me, then you spend most of your day Googling "New Showtime Series" and learned that Showtime picked up a new show starring Laura Linney called "The C Word" (or I might have seen a preview for it while vegging). It's a 30 minute comedy series about a woman dealing with her own cancer. It caught my attention because my mom has breast cancer. She had surgery at the end of last month to remove the cancer, and the doctors thought they had gotten it all, but they didn't. So today (Thursday) my mother is having more surgery to remove more cancer and find out if the cancer has spread to her lymph nodes.

"The C Word" follows Laura's character as cancer forces her to face her own mortality which then causes her live her life a little differently. At one point in the preview, Laura's character is out to dinner and closes her menu and says, "I'm just having dessert and wine." This line made me think of my own mother and laugh. Not because she has changed how she lives life because of cancer, but because she hasn't.

I was raised in a dessert-first family.

It wasn't a crazy, reckless, I'm about to die so I'm going to do whatever I want lifestyle that we often see portrayed by the media, but rather one that understood and accepted that mortality is a part of life. We all die. Armed with that knowledge, my parents chose to base their decisions on what they believed that God would want them to do with their lives. Not like a flighty, blowing in the wind, "God told me to" kind of lifestyle, but one of prayer. Seeking wisdom from the Bible. The results of this show how when we chose to honor God, He will do amazing things with our lives.

While my mother hasn't said as much, I wouldn't be surprised if the "C" word has caused her to re-evaluate her life. I hope she can see what I see. A life that has shined God's love to those around her. That has positively affected more people than we know and that has guided me to become a woman that listens to the convictions God has placed into her heart. A woman that goes to God in prayer when her heart is full of love and when it is full of pain. A woman that understands that even if God doesn't honor her prayers to take this cancer out of her mother's body, it's because His plans are bigger and greater than mine.

Eating ice cream for dinner or having pie before Thanksgiving Turkey aren't spiritual decisions. God doesn't care what order we eat our meals. He wants us to live lives so that those around us can see Him working. He wants us to have faith in His goodness and His mercy even in our most difficult times. And in pursuing God's desire for our lives we will find life's true sweetness.