Scarlet fever, a "strep" disease, is not the threat it once was. Having been treated with antibiotics for a period of twenty-four hours, the sufferer—usually a child—can return to school and other activities as soon as they feel better and have no fever. (Mayo Clinic) How different it was when I was a youngster!
When I was seven years old, I caught scarlet fever at school and brought it home to my four brothers. One by one, they too became ill. At the time, isolation was used during outbreaks of highly contagious diseases, so our home was put under quarantine by the health department for the duration of the whole family's illness. This was a long time, all summer as I recall, since we did not have any treatment except the loving and precautionary care of my mother. In order to avoid exposure and continue to work, my father had to stay out of our home with a relative, coming by only to deliver groceries to our front yard.
When the disease had finally run its course, we had to clean everything in the house, disposing of whatever we could. The precious books and paper dolls that had entertained me while I was bedfast had to be burned. (Fortunately, some wise friends had provided two copies of the gifts they brought—one for the quarantine period and one for after we were all well!) The things that were kept had to be washed with disinfectant or laid out in the sunshine. "Sunshine kills germs," my mother told me.
Actually, light eliminates a lot of things. A deterrent to night-time invasion of homes and businesses is bright light, and pedestrians are urged to seek well-lit areas. Vehicles of all kinds are required to be lighted, if not so the driver can see, then for his/her safety and that of others also on the road. Mold grows best in conditions of darkness, moisture, and stagnant air—the refrigerator is perfect!
In human life, the same truth exists. It doesn't take a criminal personality to prefer darkness to light; one has only to read the newspaper to discover that people in every walk of life are keeping everyone else "in the dark" about their real selves and their lives. One has only to read the Bible to realize that this has been so for a very long time. "This is the crisis we're in: God-light streamed into the world, but men and women everywhere ran for the darkness. They went for the darkness because they were not really interested in pleasing God. Everyone who makes a practice of doing evil, addicted to denial and illusion, hates God-light and won't come near it, fearing a painful exposure. But anyone working and living in truth and reality welcomes God-light so the work can be seen for the God-work it is." (John 3:19)
Back in the '50s, we were singing a Stuart Hamblen song, "Open up Your Heart and Let the Sunshine In." Over fifty years later, that is still good advice.
MaryMartha
(All rights reserved)
Scripture taken from The Message. Copyright © 2003 by Eugene H. Peterson. Used by permission of NavPress Publishing Group.
Email: mrymrtha@gmail.com
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